62 T1IE ZOOLOGIST. 



was published in 1797, says : — " The parish is in length five 

 miles, and four in breadth, and contains about 7000 acres of 

 land, of which 5500 are arable and pasture, 1200 woodland, and 

 150 common or waste. There are 30 farms, 154 cottages, and 

 about 970 inhabitants." Lipscomb, whose history of the county 

 was published fifty years later (1847), copies this account, and the 

 only more recent account that I know of is Sheahan's ' History and 

 Topography of Bucks,' published 1862, wherein the area is given 

 as 6615 acres, including 1400 acres of woodland. The population 

 in 1881 was 1502. 



These accounts are more precise than those of most parishes 

 which I have examined, in giving the numbers of each species 

 paid for. In some cases the numbers are not given, and I have 

 inferred them from the price paid ; these are all marked thus *. 



The churchwardens' year never reckons from Jan. to Jan. ; 

 usually March to March, occasionally May to May, &c. ; but I have 

 endeavoured, for the sake of uniformity, to apportion the kills to the 

 Gregorian (Jan. — Dec.) way of reckoning, and if the result is not 

 in all cases quite correct, it at least does not affect the averages. 



Most parishes are less explicit in their statements ; for 

 instance, at Medmenham, a parish which divides Hambleden 

 along the greater part of its eastern edge from Great Marlow, the 

 entries are in this form : — 



1775 pd. J. Johnson a bill for Rining, Sparrows, Badgers, ) ~ , fi lf ,,, 

 polecats, &c J ** 



The partial summarising of these accounts, as I have done, 

 instead of recording each kill of one, two, &c, specimens singly, 

 with the various eccentricities of spelling, — " heg-hog" or " hedg 

 hog," "poullcatt" or "pole Catt," &c, — takes away from their 

 original charm, but at the same time renders them, by concen- 

 tration, a little more readable. 



It is not impossible that there may still be a Badger or two 

 lingering in the parish, in spite of gamekeepers. One was 

 captured there about three years ago, which I am afraid was kept 

 for baiting for some time in Marlow, and was then sent to a well- 

 known place of entertainment near London, for the same cruel 

 and illegal purpose. 



f Johnson was the Sexton, and sent in his bill for certain M Bell Einging 

 j" and " Vermin, " all mixed up. 



