used to be accounted "beasts
of the forest," viz. the hare, boar, and wolf, in addition to the hart
and hind.

Adverting to the feathered tribes which have been observed in this
neighbourhood, Mr. Machen remarks--"The birds in the Forest do not differ
much from those met with in other parts of the west of England. I have
been struck with the contrast in the smaller number of large birds,
mostly of the falcon kind, which are now seen, in comparison with those I
remember fifty years ago. At that time you might often observe fifteen
or twenty kites and hawks hovering over Church Hill and the Bicknor
walks; but now it is not frequently the case that you see one. It
appears to me also that there is a great diminution in the number of all
kinds of birds, small as well as large, so that in some parts of the
Forest and woods the stillness and absence of animals of every kind is
surprising. Ravens too have become very scarce. A pair had a nest by
Simmon's Rock this year (1857), but they are said to drive their young to
a distance as soon as they can provide for themselves. The only kind of
plover in the Forest is the green plover or lapwing, which were very
numerous at one time in the wet greens. Woodcocks used to be thought
never to breed in this country, but they certainly do so now. In this
Forest and in other places I have frequently seen them during the summer,
and have observed their nests, made on the ground, of slight
construction. One above Whitemead had only two eggs. When the
plantations were first made, they became, even in the centre of them,
well stocked with partridges; but as the woods grew up they all
disappeared. Pheasants were turned out by me at Whitemead, and soon
spread over the whole Forest. At one time there was a good stock, but
lately they are much reduced. There are a great variety of woodpeckers,
which do not, I think, hurt sound trees, but rather those which they find
already decaying. Fieldfares and redwings come in great numbers.
Nightingales are not numerous in the Forest, although they abound in the
neighbourhood. They do not like its depths, or large trees hollow below;
but prefer a thick close cover, and the vicinity of a road or path where
the bushes are low and thick: but I never heard one in the middle of the
Forest. Although a country like this seems unsuited to the wheatear, as
preferring the Downs of Sussex, &c., still they come here in the spring,
and are generally seen