Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/170

148 very curious place indeed, prepared and fitted up by one man, whose name is James Potter, a self-trained naturalist. Numerous animals, birds, and insects, all caught and stuffed by Potter himself, and made up into striking or grotesque groups, were round the room. There is a ' kittens' croquet party,' a 'squirrels' carouse,' a cricket match played by guinea pigs, and other scenes, wonderfully life like, and all sweet and clean and pleasant to look upon* which is quite a new feature in connection with stuffed animals. 'I suppose,' said I, ' many of these creatures are only made up?' ' Oh, no, sir,' said Potter, ' they are all real. I was obliged to have them alive, or I could not have given them the expression.' There were some capital Herons and Kingfishers, caught close by."

A large sand-bank about two miles from Dorking, just below the bill leading from Westgate, will be found "full of Martins' nests—many colonies of Martins may be seen in this part of the country, but this is one of the largest and most conveniently placed for purposes of observation" (p. 158).

Although Mr. Jennings has limited his expeditions chiefly to the two home counties included in the title of his book, he has nevertheless favoured his readers with notes of peregrinations in the adjacent county of Kent and down the Wye from Ross to Chepstow. It is in Surrey and Sussex, however, that the author's strength will principally be found to lie, and of what character are the scenery and general aspect of a region the nearest, and in the main most accessible from, the densely populated metropolis is best told in his own words:—

"The road throughout this walk leads on through woodland and common, by paths bordered with fir trees, or passing over hills beneath which a great part of the Wealds of Surrey and Sussex lie extended before the traveller. By far the larger proportion of the land through which he must pass is uncultivated. Considering the small size of the county of Surrey, the extent of it which lies a mere wilderness in these busy days is simply amazing. The whole county is but twenty-seven miles in length, and not more than forty in breadth, yet it contains almost every variety of scenery, scarcely one mile is like another, and often the whole character of the country undergoes an utter change within the space of half-a-dozen miles. Where, out of Scotland, can be found such moors and heaths as those between Thursley and Hindhead, or even between Albury and Ewhurst? Many of the commons or downs are familiar to excursionists, but the heaths in the more distant and neglected parts of the county are little visited.