Indications of the former Natural History of Cornwall.

BY JONATHAN COUCH, Esq., F.L.S., &c.

IN the ninth Annual Report of this Society, there is a Paper* by Mr. Allen, on the Wild Animals of the neighbourhood of Liskeard, and the rewards which were paid for destroying them; and I now beg leave to present to the Society a statement of a similar nature, derived from the Churchwarden's book of the parish of Talland; but which is so far different from the former as to render it a matter of interest to naturalists to have it inserted among the records of the past times of the county. I have copied a like account from the book of the neighbouring Parish of Lansallos, but as it is the less interesting of the two I refrain from sending anything more than an abstract.

It appears from these documents that the people of less than a century ago, were expending their money to a larger amount, for the destruction of hurtful creatures, than the injury they inflicted could at all warrant; and also, that by those rewards they were encouraging the idleness of men, who found greater pleasure in strolling about the country with the professed object of destroying what they termed vermin, and thereby earning a few shillings, than in the pursuit of regular industry. It seems to be by no means a proof that these animals were more abundant then than now; for there are people now living who remember when badgers were hunted for the purpose of being baited (although the pretence. was that they did much harm to the farmer), at which time they were known to be in considerable numbers in the neighbourhood; although now, when no longer wanted, there is little proof of their existence.

Parish of TALLAND.

From the year 1750 to 1756, there were killed :

In the year 1755, there were killed eleven Marten Cats, and in 1781, two Marten Cats: an animal which I have reason to suppose to be no longer a native of the county. The last specimen I have

been informed of (the Martes foina, Bell's Brit. Quadrupeds, p. 167) was killed near Liskeard in the first quarter of the present century; and its loss (for it was in ancient times classed with animals of the chase and its fur was in high esteem) may be ascribed to the change of habits in society, by which the common use of mineral coal was introduced among farmers. Before that time a large number of pollard trees were permitted to grow in the neighbourhood of the town-places, or farm-yards, for the purpose of supplying the house with fuel; and the cavities which most of them contained, afforded a safe shelter to these and the others of the weasel tribe. When such fuel became of less importance these hollow trees were gradually cut down, or suffered to fall, to the great diminution of the numbers of the weasel tribe. In the above enumeration it appears that the Fitch is but another name for the Polecat (Mustela Putorius); and that the Stoat and common Weasel (which latter is locally called the Fairy) are confounded together.

At Easter, 1775, the accounts were given into the Vestry, for killing vermin £1 12 8

...

It is to be noted that, in the neighbouring parish of Lansallos the reward for killing a fox was much higher than in Talland; but, unlike the people of Liskeard, they did not draw to themselves all the idlers or poachers from any distance; for they did not commonly bestow their bounty on any beyond the boundary of their own parish. In one instance only, in the year 1749, the churchwarden spent, "on Plint fox-hunters," 2s. 6d.; and as at that time the reward for killing a fox amounted to ten shillings, in the year 1750 "the Plint men" received for 3 foxes £1: 10s., which, however, there is reason to believe, were killed in this parish.

The last entry, for killing a fox, 10s., was in 1821; and for killing five fitches, 1s. 8d., in 1832. From the year 1750 to the

latest date the numbers of those animals accounted for was:

but none of the latter were entered after the year 1787, although this bird was common in the neighbourhood until within a few years. Certainly it is not by persecution that the Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris) has been driven from the sea-cliffs of Talland and Lansallos.

The expense of these rewards on the whole, was :

I beg to send you the following remarks on Mining in Cornwall and Devon. If you think they are calculated to awaken attention to that department of mining which, until recently, has been much neglected, and is still, as to general principles, imperfectly understood, they are at your service. I refer to the geological and mineralogical character of the rocks which have been found most productive of metallic ores.

After having made rather extensive observations, I am led to conclude, that a careful and experienced miner may anticipate the results of mining operations, in any specific locality, with a great degree of probability; but more especially as to the non-existence of metallic ores,—or, not in sufficient quantities to pay the cost of working.

1. Granite. The lodes, in some of the varieties of this rock, have been found to be productive of copper and tin, whilst in others they have, without exception, been unproductive, or nearly

So.

That kind of granite which has been found to be productive, although varied in its structure and composition in different localities, may be described as follows:- Fracture,―rough and