6o JUNGLE FOLK 



such-like trifles natural selection has but Httle to do. 

 It works on broad lines. It determines certain Hmits 

 within which variations are permissible ; it does not go 

 into details. So far as it is concerned, an organism may 

 vary considerably, provided the limits it defines are 

 not transgressed. This statement will not meet with 

 the approval of ultra-Darwinians, but I submit that it 

 is nevertheless in accordance with facts. If we try to 

 account for every trivial feature in every bird and 

 beast on the principle of natural selection, we soon find 

 ourselves lost in a maze of difficulties. 



It is because the eyes of owls are forwardly-directed 

 that they are such easy birds to mob. They can see 

 only in one direction — a limitation which day-birds 

 have discovered. The result is that when the owls do 

 venture forth during the daytime, they come in for 

 rough handling. The position of the eyes in the owl 

 would lead us to infer that the bird has but few enemies 

 to fear, and, so far as I am aware, there is no creature 

 which preys on them, except, of course, the British 

 gamekeeper. Why, then, are owls not more numerous 

 than they are in those countries where there are no 

 gamekeepers to vex their souls ? The population of 

 owls must of course be limited by the abundance of 

 their quarry. But there is more than enough food 

 to satisfy the hunger of the existing owls. What, then, 

 keeps down their numbers ? Mr. F. C. Selous has 

 asked a similar question with regard to lions in Africa. 

 Even before the days of the express rifle lions were 

 comparatively scarce, while the various species of deer 

 roamed about the country in innumerable herds. The 



