BIRDS AND THE WEB OF LIFE 415 



The villagers were disappointed because the coarse grass 

 they used to cut had been replaced by docks, and the pro- 

 prietor, who had been using a percentage of gulls' eggs as 

 food for his young pheasants, was disappointed, because 

 the grouse had gone. In the early summer of 19 17 scarcely 

 a gull was to be seen ; the docks had almost disappeared ; 

 the rushes were giving way to rough grasses and even 

 heather ; the teal had gone and the grouse were returning. 



We see, then, how in a few years a slight imprint of man's 

 hand had set in motion a complicated cycle of changes, 

 and there is something almost startlingly reminiscent of 

 Darwin in the last sentence of Dr. Ritchie's story : ** If 

 the natural processes set a-rolling by a tiny and temporary 

 interference of man can be so marked, how can imagination 

 grasp the total effects of man's influence, impressed upon 

 the world of Nature often with great power, and persisted 

 in, not for a few years, nor for a few centuries, but for 

 thousands, nay, even for tens of thousands of years." 



§ 8. The Conservation of Birds 



From the instances that we have given — samples out 

 of many — it seems clear that science warrants the strongest 

 disapprobation of the careless destruction of birds. Some 

 have calculated that six to ten years without birds would serve 

 to bring our whole system of Animate Nature to an end. 

 The accuracy of such statements cannot be demonstrated, 

 and they are better left alone. What is certain is that 

 the continuance of the system of Animate Nature depends 

 in part on the check that birds keep on injurious insects 

 and on small mammals like voles. There is a very short 

 list of birds that are seriously injurious to the interests of 

 farmer and gardener ; of a considerable number it must be 

 said that while they do harm they also do good, and that the 

 balance is greatly in their favour ; of the vast majority it 

 may be safely said that they are beneficial. 



They are "joys for ever besides," and this is a note which 

 should be sounded along with that of utility. These birds 



