BRITISH ANIMALS EXTINCT WITHIN HISTORIC TIMES - WITH SOME ACCOUNT
OF BRITISH WILD WHITE CATTLE by JAMES EDMUND HARTING. PREFACE: FEW
who have studied the literature of British Zoology can have failed
to remark the gap which exists between Owens British Fossil Mammals
and Birds, and Bells 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 ofthe 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 Eeview and the natural
history columns of The Field. The exigencies oftime and space,
however, necessitated 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 con- solidated form,
considerable additions have been made. That the subject admits of
still further amplifica- tion the author is well aware but ars long
a 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 publica- tion indefinitely, in the hope ofsome 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 towelcome 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 commu- nications, 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 Proceed- ings 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 presump- tuous on the part of the
writer to deal witha 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. Storers 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. Storers volume appeared. ft would be ungenerous,
however, on the part of the writer were he to withhold an
acknowledgment of his indebtedness to Mr...
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