INTRODUCTION. 3
Forest district has been a haven of refuge for some
that would otherwise have been extinct.
Yet, with the total number of recognised British
Mammals—seventy-two, viz., forty-five terrestrial and
twenty-seven marine—the list of Essex Fauna com-
pares very favourably.
Of the former, thirty-eight (not counting two
doubtful Bats, Rhinolphus ferrum-equinum and Ves-
pertilio murinus, which I have thought fit to reject)
will be found described in the following pages, while
another, an introduced animal (a species of Jackal),
probably exists in Epping Forest.
It is true that three of these species, the Badger,
Marten, and Polecat, are now rare, especially the last
two; yet evidence satisfactorily shows that in the
early part of this century all of them were fairly
abundant, and up to the present time individuals have
since continuously existed.
Deer, in a wild condition, exist to-day in very few
English counties. Yet, in consequence of the survival
in Essex of the virgin woods of Epping Forest, we
are enabled to claim these interesting animals as
members of our Fauna, as they undoubtedly have
been from time immemorial. Fallow Deer remain
until the present time. Red Deer were known up to
the early years of this century, when the presumed
last surviving members of the wild herd were removed