28 



KATURAL HISTORY 



Upon a nice examination, and trial by 

 fire, I could discover nothing resinous in 

 them ; and therefore rather suppose that 

 they were parts of a willow or alder, or 

 some such aquatic tree. 



This lonely domain is a very agreeable 

 haunt for many sorts of wild fowls, 

 which not only frequent it in the winter, 

 but breed there in the summer ; such as 

 lapwings, snipes, wild-ducks, and, as I 

 have discovered within these few years, 

 teals. Partridges in vast plenty are bred 

 in good seasons on the verge of this 

 forest, into which they love to make 

 excursions : and in particular, in the dry 

 Summer of 1740 and 1741, and some 

 years after, thev swarmed to such a 

 degree, that parties of unreasonable 

 sportsmen killed twenty and sometimes 

 thirty brace in a day. 



But there was a nobler species of game 

 in this forest, now extinct, which I have 

 heard old people say abounded much 

 before shooting flying became so com- 

 mon, and that was the heatli-cockj ox black 



