[282]The Forest would afford a good field for deciding the controversy as to whether our tame pigs are descended from the European Wild Boar. (See _Proceedings of the Zoological Society_, 1861, p. 264; and _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_, Third Series, vol. ix. p. 415.) Certain it is that here are some breeds distinct in their markings. I must not, too, forget to mention _Coronella lævis_ (Boie), which is found in the Forest, as also in Dorsetshire and Kent. This is the _Coronella austriaca_ of Laurenti, and afterwards the _Coluber lævis_ of Lacépede. It might be mistaken for the common viper (_Pelias berus_), but differs in not being venomous, as also from the ringed snake (_Natrix torquata_) in having a fang at the hinder extremity of its jaws, the peculiarity of the genus _Coronella_. It feeds on lizards, which its fang enables it to hold; drinks a great deal of water; and Dr. Günther, of the British Museum, to whom I am indebted for the above information, tells me that it crawls up the furze and low bushes to lick the rain off the leaves. For a list of the Lepidoptera of the New Forest, see Appendix IV. [283]Vol. i. p. 26. [284]_Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds_, by W. C. Hewitson, vol. i. p. 27. [285]As so few opportunities occur of weighing the eggs of the honey-buzzard and hobby, the following notes, most carefully made by Mr. Rake and myself, may not be without interest:— Honey-buzzard’s nest, taken June 16th, in a low fork of an oak-tree in Anses Wood, contained two fresh-laid eggs:— First egg (apothecaries’ weight) 1oz. 3dr. 1sc. 5gr. Second egg (very slightly dinted) 1oz. 2dr. 2sc. 10gr. Honey-buzzard’s nest, taken June 24th, in Ravensnest Wood, near Brook, in the higher branches of a tall beech, overhanging the road. This nest had been deserted, and the two eggs were very much addled and hard set:— First egg 1oz. 4dr. 0sc. 10gr. Second egg 1oz. 3dr. 2sc. 10gr. Hobby’s nest, placed in a nest which, in 1861, had been occupied by a honey-buzzard, was taken in Prior’s Acre, June 21st, and contained three fresh-laid eggs, now in Mr. Rake’s cabinet:— First egg 6dr. 0sc. 0gr. Second egg 5dr. 2sc. 10gr. Third egg (very slightly dinted) 5dr. 2sc. 0gr. Hobby’s nest, taken in South Bentley Wood, July 12, contained two eggs hard sat upon and addled:— First egg 5dr. 2sc. 15gr. Second egg (cracked) 5dr. 0sc. 14gr.