54 
NATURE NOTES 
application may be regarded as entirely satisfactory. The 
replies from the Department of Woods and from the War 
Office expressed complete sympathy with the aims of the 
petitioners, but these authorities also stated their belief that the 
only way in which successful conservation of the forest could 
be carried out W'as by continuing the present system of super- 
vision. This is now exercised by warders appointed by the 
War Office. These officials are not in the ordinary sense game- 
keepers, inasmuch as they are not allowed to shoot, but they 
guard the forest against unlawful or mischievous trespassers, 
while they allow the use of it to those w'ho may wish to explore 
it for observation or study. 
Still, shooting to a limited extent is indulged in by the 
members (officers solely) of the Aldershot Game Preserving 
Association, who rear annuall}' a small number of pheasants 
in the woods, and confine their sport strictly to game. But 
neither this nor the military manoeuvres, which occasionally 
take place here, appears to affect the birds in the forest, for 
they are described by competent observers as not only numerous 
but singularly tame. 
Thus those interesting and beautiful forest birds, the wood- 
peckers, are fairly abundant. A heronry, comprising some fifty 
nests, has been established in some of the taller trees, and the 
singular jarring note of the fern owl is, on a summer evening, 
frequently heard. Indeed, it is estimated by an ornithologist of 
repute that some thirty species now breed in the forest, and, 
with time, this number will doubtless increase. It is a matter 
of complaint with those supervising the forest that when certain 
birds, especially hawks and owls, stray beyond its precincts they 
are liable to be shot by gamekeepers and others on the lands 
adjoining ; but with the spread of a knowledge of natural history 
will be a corresponding desire to preserve interesting examples 
of it. Besides, even at the present time the wash for destruction 
is by no means universal. A keeper employed for many years 
by the late Lord Selborne, whose estate joins the forest, informs 
me that no hawks, owls, or rare birds were allowed to be shot ; 
and a gentleman who has recently taken on lease a large 
property in the neighbourhood writes me, “ My keeper has 
strict orders to shoot neither hawks nor owls, as I am convinced 
they do my game no injury.” 
Strange to say disappointment has been expressed in some 
quarters that an unconditional gift of the forest for natural 
history purposes was not made to the Guildford Society by the 
Government ; but this can only have arisen from very imperfect 
knowledge of the circumstances. No private society could 
competently deal with a white elephant of this kind, nor is it 
to be expected that the Government would, for such a purpose, 
cancel an existing agreement with the War Office. As it is, 
naturalists have obtained all that they can reasonably expect or 
de.sire — namely, an assurance from the authorities that birds of 
