The natural history of Selborne. Observations on various parts of nature and the Naturalist's calendar / by Gilbert White. With additions by Sir William Jardine, Bart.

  • Gilbert White
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of Selborne. Observations on various parts of nature and the Naturalist's calendar / by Gilbert White. With additions by Sir William Jardine, Bart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    41/494 page 27
    WOLMER FOREST—GAME. oN shown pieces of fossil-wood, of a paler colour, and softer nature, which the inhabitants called fir; but, 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 ] 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 excur- sions ; and in particular, in the dry summer of 1740 and 1741, and some years after, they swarmed to such a degree, that parties of unreasonable sports- men 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 common, and that was the heath-cock, or black game. When I was a little boy, I recollect one p- 360. Quere, Might not such observations be reduced to domestic use, by promoting the discovery of old obliterated drains and wells about houses; and, m Roman stations and camps, lead to the finding of pavements, baths, and graves, and other hidden relics of curious antiquity ? * The remains of trees are found in most of the marshes in Great Britain; but the mosses in the north of England, and all those of Scotland, contain trees often of immense size. . These are generally oak, birch, different willows, or alder, and the Scotch fir, pinus sylvestris. Being imbedded to considerable depths, they are sometimes in a perfect state, and completely saturated with the soil in which they lie. In the Highlands, the Scotch fir abounds, and retains so much resin as to be used for lights during winter, for which purpose it is dug out, dried, and split into narrow lengths.—W. J.
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