INTRODUCTION OF THE ROE DEER IN
EPPING FOREST.
IT WILL PROBABLY be some years before the royal gift to
the public of Epping Forest, or what remains of it, comes to be
appreciated at its true worth. Although a mere remnant of its
former greatness, yet a tract thirteen miles in length, by about two
and a half miles at its greatest breadth, is no mean gift for the
recreation of the public, to remain uninclosed and unbuilt upon for
ever.
It may not be known to everyone that, by the Epping Forest Act of
1878, the forest was formally conveyed to the Corporation of the
City of London as trustees for the public, with power to nominate
and appoint conservators, whose duties are defined by the seventh
section of the Act, and who are enjoined, inter alia, "at all times as
far as possible to preserve the natural aspect of the forest."
In endeavouring to effect this object, it must be admitted that the
conservators have experienced considerable difficulty. Not only
have they been harassed by the scheme of a railway company to
intersect the forest with a new and unnecessary line of railway, but
they have also had to contend against the views of a certain repre-
sentative class, who, possessing no appreciation of the natural
beauties of a forest, seem to have considered that the conservators'
duties would be best discharged by cutting and trimming the under-
wood, by laying down neat gravel paths and forming duck ponds,
and by encouraging the efforts of enterprising publicans to establish
new hostelries at intervals throughout the forest district. Happily
these difficulties have in a great measure been overcome. Thanks
to the efforts of the "Essex Naturalists' Field Club," the railway
bill has been rejected by the House of Commons, and the conser-
vators have been encouraged to use their best endeavours, not only
to preserve the natural beauties of the forest, but to protect within
its limits the various wild creatures, both furred and feathered,
which would make it their home it unmolested.