16 A Note on Afirioiltnral Oecolocpj in Mid-Wales 



These two last are quite subsidiary and only included to show the 

 complexity of the local animal inter-relation. My attention was 

 drawn to these conditions through the complaints of farmers, shepherds, 

 and poultiy keepers, regarding serious losses of Iambs and poultry, 

 due to foxes. 



The physical features of the area dealt with include the wide, 

 open, grassy and peaty uplands of the mountain complex of which 

 Plynlymon is the centre; the foot hills and river valleys often rough 

 and wooded ; the cultivated and fertile lowland and coastal region, 

 and the large peaty tract bordering the Dyfi estuary and known as 

 Borth Bog, or the Dyfi Flats. 



On the mountains the sheep receive relatively little attention, and 

 the amount of necessity depends very largely upon the size and nature 

 of the holding or " walk," the number of sheep, and the persons respon- 

 sible for their care. Even if more or less tended by day, the sheep are 

 exposed to any danger that may threaten them during the night and 

 early morning. The condition of affairs here described may possibly 

 apply^ with some modification, to other mountain areas. 



During the progress of the survey I received 70 complaints of damage 

 to lambs and poultry by foxes, and it would have been easy to add 

 largely to that number if farm visiting had been continued on the same 

 scale in 1910 as in the previous years. The complaints, as indicated 

 above, fall under two heads: 



{a) lambs, (6) poultry, and these must be considered separately. 



Foxes are common in the area, and are hunted by the pack of hounds 

 kept by Sir Edward Pryse, Bart., at Gogei'ddan, near Aberystwyth, 

 about the centre of the area. This pack has not, of course, hunted to 

 the same extent since the outbreak of War, and foxes seem to have 

 increased both in numbers and boldness. 



A secon<l pack has tiuite recently been started on the southern side 

 of the area. Cubs were reared, and poultry raided even in the town of 

 Aberystwyth, and many foxes were perforce destroyed by farmers 

 and others throughout the area in sheer self-protection. The chief 

 losses of poultry are, of course, practically confined to the lowlands 

 and valleys, few poultry being kept at liigher eleva^tions, and in addition 

 to the direct loss there must be added the discouragement of poultry 

 keepers. Part of the loss is due to bad management, and careless 

 housing of fowls due to slackness on the part of the poultry keepers, 

 and partly owing to lack of suitable places in which to house them.- 

 The loss of lambs occurs chiefly in the mountains, and in certain districts 

 is serious. 



