52 
NATURE NOTES 
covered large portions of Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, 
though at what period this district became denuded of timber 
there is no evidence to show. All that we certainly know is 
that Wolmer, like other forests, belonged to the Crown, that 
its condition in the early part of the last century answered 
to Gilbert White’s description, and that it was then noted for 
a fine herd of red deer, which Queen Anne inspected on her 
journey to Portsmouth, the bank on which she sat while the 
animals, 500 in number, were driven before her being still tradi- 
tionally pointed out as “ the Queen’s seat.” Poaching, how- 
ever, thinned the herd, and the remainder were transferred to 
Windsor. 
As the district in Gilbert White’s time was destitute of trees 
and cover, bird life was necessarily restricted as regards variety 
of species. He only enumerates wild fowl, partridges and 
pheasants : blackgame, he laments, had become, w'ithin his 
remembrance, extinct, the cause assigned by him being, 
curiously enough, the sporting innovation of “ shooting flying.” 
In olden times gunners preferred, when possible, shooting 
winged game on the ground, a curious illustration of which is 
seen in the large landscape by Rubens in the National Gallery, 
where a sporstman in the foreground, partially screened by some 
briars and carefully holding back a dog, is stealthily stalking a 
covey of partridges innocently sunning and preening themselves 
in the open space beyond. A native of Wolmer whose faculties, 
although he has passed his eightieth year, are still good, 
informs me that the enclosures and plantations on the higher 
ground were commenced by Government about the year 1825, 
an event fixed in his memory by the fact of his relations 
being employed in the work. Prior to that time, he says, he 
distinctly recollects that the district exactly answered to Gilbert 
White’s description of it, namely— treeless, boggy, and covered 
with gorse, fern and heather. 
The plantations, consisting almost wholly of Scotch fir, are 
mainly confined to the higher portions of the ground, the more 
level parts remaining in their original condition, save that here 
and there a few birch trees now impart a little variety to the 
scene. 
Some change, however, has been wrought in the swampy 
districts by the plantations on the heights. The fir tribe 
notoriously absorb more atmospheric moisture than other trees ; 
they are, therefore, of especial service in swampy, or malarious 
districts, a well-known example of this being the famed pine 
forest in the pestilential environs of Ravenna ; and one result of 
planting in Wolmer has been to diminish the extent of the bogs. 
Another change, however, can scarcely be considered so advan- 
tageous. A feature of the district on which Gilbert White 
lovingly dilates, and which undoubtedly imparted great interest 
to the locality, is a pond of unusual extent, its circumference 
being one mile and a half, and on this we are told vast flocks of 
