412 THE BIOLOGY OF BIRDS 



These things must be, and the only remedy is in the con- 

 servation of sanctuaries and in the diffusion of a reluctance 

 to kill needlessly. 



When we take a country like Scotland, which is pecu- 

 liarly well-adapted for precise faunistic study, we find, 

 following Dr. Ritchie, that more species of animals have 

 been introduced than have been exterminated since man 

 entered into his Scottish kingdom. This seems at first 

 sight very satisfactory, but it is not the whole truth, for 

 while the fauna has actually gained in numerical strength 

 it has fallen off in what we might call faunistic value or 

 standard. The visible has been replaced by the invisible, 

 the giants by the pigmies. " We have, in effect, lost more 

 than we have gained, for how can increase of rabbits and 

 sparrows and earthworms and caterpillars, and the addition 

 of millions of rats and cockroaches and crickets and bugs, 

 ever take the place of those fine creatures round the memories 

 of which the glamour of Scotland's past still plays — the 

 reindeer and the elk, the wolf, the brown bear, the lynx, 

 and the beaver, the bustard, the crane, the bumbling bittern, 

 and many another, lost or disappearing ? " 



In the 1903 British Museum Report on Economic Zoology, 

 Sir Ray Lankester has clearly arranged the chief practical 

 inter-relations between man and animals. We wish to 

 illustrate his categories with reference to birds in particular. 



(i) Birds captured for food and other products, e.g. 

 crows salted in barrels in some parts of North Europe ; 

 ptarmigan, willow grouse, plover, woodcock, snipe, wild 

 duck, etc., shot and trapped for food. 



Here may be included wild birds like Red Grouse and 

 Partridge shot rather for sport than for food. And another 

 sub-category of a more dubious character may be recognised 

 for birds that are killed for purposes of luxury, e.g. those 

 male Birds of Paradise that are shot for the sake of their 

 very decorative feathers. 



(2) Birds bred for use, such as poultry for food, ostriches 

 for their plumes, pheasants for sport, carrier-pigeons for 

 sending news. 



