Mature Motes : 
CEbe Selborne Society’s flbaoa.ffnc 
No. 98. FEBRUARY, 1898. Vol. IX. 
SELBORNIAN A. 
Wolmer Forest. — The proposal that Wolmer Forest 
should be made a sanctuary for wild animals is captivating, 
and many men of light and leading, including Mr. Gladstone 
and Mr. Watts the painter, are amongst its supporters. The 
history of the matter up to the present time is as follows : — A 
memorial, signed by members of the Guildford Natural History 
Society, the Mayor of Guildford, and others, was addressed to 
the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, requesting that 
Wolmer Forest “ be reserved as a sanctuary for wild birds and 
other creatures throughout the year ; that it may not be let for 
game preserving nor for any purpose inimical to bird-life ; that 
it may not be lawful at any time to kill or disturb wild birds in 
it, nor to take or destroy their nests or eggs ; that naturalists 
may have access to all parts of the forest for the purpose of 
study; and that the forest may remain in its present condition 
in perpetuity as a national memorial to England’s greatest out- 
door naturalist, Gilbert White of Selborne.” In reply the 
memorialists were informed that the forest is in lease to the 
War Office until 1910, and that the memorial would be for- 
warded to the Secretary of State for War. The opinion 
of Mr. Stafford Howard, one of the Commissioners, was also 
given “ that where game preservation is carried out only those 
creatures which are specially destructive of buds are kept down, 
and animal life generally flourishes better than it would be likely 
to do under other circumstances.” Mr. Howard also does not 
see “ If game preserving were done away with in Wolmer, and 
it were made a penal offence to molest birds, &c., who is to 
enforce the law, as there would in that event be no game- 
keepers.” There is good sense in this. In an open, unculti- 
vated, easily accessible tract such as Wolmer, the most strict 
