EXTINCT WITHIN HISTORIC TIMES WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF BRITISH WILD WHITE CATTLE BY JAMES EDMUND HARTING, F.L.S., F.Z.S. AUTHOR OF A HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS;" THE ORNITHOLOGY OF SHAKESPEARE," ETC. ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. WOLF, C. WHYMPER, R. W. SHERWIN, AND OTHERS. LONDON TRÜBNER AND CO., LUDGATE HILL Sm [All rights reserved] And in yon wither'd bracken's lair, The days of old have passed away Lays of the Deer Forest. PREFACE. FEW who have studied the literature of British Zoology can have failed to remark the gap which exists between Owen's "British Fossil Mammals and Birds," and Bell's "British Quadrupeds;" the former dealing chiefly with prehistoric remains, the latter with species which are still existing. Between these two admirable works a connecting link, as it were, seems wanting in the shape of a history of such animals as have become extinct in Britain within historic times, and to supply this is the aim of the present writer. Of the materials collected, during many years of research, some portion has been already utilized in a Lecture delivered by the author before the "Hertfordshire Natural History Society," in October, 1879, and in several articles in the Popular Science Review and the natural history columns of The Field. The exigencies of time and space, however, neces * Popular Science Review, 1878, pp. 53, 141, 251, 396; and The Field, 1879 Sept. 27; Oct. 4, 11; Nov. 1, 8, 29; Dec. 20 and 27. sitated a much briefer treatment of the subject in the journals referred to than is here attempted, and to these essays, now presented to the reader in a consolidated form, considerable additions have been made. That the subject admits of still further amplification the author is well aware; but "ars longa vita brevis est," and the materials at present collected have already assumed such dimensions, that it has been deemed preferable to offer them to the reader in their present form, rather than postpone publication indefinitely, in the hope of some day realizing an ideal state of perfection. Should the present volume pave the way for future research on the part of others, the Author will be amongst the first to welcome the result of their labours. He has already to acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. J. A. Smith and Messrs. Edward Alston, J. A. Harvie Brown, and J. P. Hoare, whose taste in the same line of research has prompted them to favour him with several interesting communications, which have been embodied in the following pages; while to Dr. Smith he is especially obliged for the use of four woodcuts which were prepared to illustrate papers of his own in the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland." In regard to that portion of the present work which treats of the ancient breed of wild white cattle, it may be thought, by some, a little presumptuous on the part of the writer to deal with a subject on which an entire volume has been so recently and so ably written by the late Mr. Storer. But it should be stated that almost all the materials for this portion of the book were not only collected long before Mr. Storer's work was published, but were on the eve of being incorporated in an important essay by Mr. Edward Alston, which was nearly ready for the press when Mr. Storer's volume appeared. It would be ungenerous, however, on the part of the writer were he to withhold an acknowledgment of his indebtedness to Mr. Storer's work for many useful additions to his own (each, in fact, containing something which the other had not), and in particular for several details of the former extent of ancient forests, which have been embodied in the Introduction. |