l6 T. A. Coward — Presidential Address 



vultures, kites, eagles, hawks and falcons, and soon arrived at 

 the correct solution of the problem ; small mammals and birds 

 sheltered in the dense jungle, the predatory birds '' waited 

 on," as the falconer would say. When a possible victim 

 ventured from its shelter it was at once hunted, driven back 

 or captured. Our forests and woodlands, now reduced to a 

 minimum, must have been similarly crowded with timorous 

 creatures; the open country was free to the larger and more 

 powerful forms. Man has altered all this, man with his axe 

 and hoe has let light into the jungle. What says '' The 

 Roadmaker " : — 



" 'Mid vegetable king and priest 

 And stripling, I (the only beast) 

 Was at the beast's work, killing ; hewed 

 The stubborn roots across, bestrewed 

 The glebe with the dislustered leaves, 

 And bade the saplings fall in sheaves; 

 Bursting across the tangled math 

 A ruin that I called a path, 

 A Golgotha that, later on, 

 When rains had watered, and sun shone, 

 And seeds enriched the place, should bear 

 And be called garden." 



When others, long before Stevenson, hacked their way 

 through the primeval forest, " bathed in vegetable blood," 

 they let in the predatory beasts and increased the struggle. 

 But Man too is predatory, and from craving for food or desire 

 for sport he helped the lesser folk at the expense of the greater, 

 especially when he realised that these powerful creatures 

 competed with him in blood lust. How well he succeeded in 

 driving them from the face of the earth may be realised by the 

 study of history. Here in Britain the white-tailed eagle and 

 the osprev have gone, the golden eagle survives because it is 

 useful as a protector of other game or rather as an assistant 

 on the deer forest ; the kite, once a useful and very familiar 

 scavenger in our mediaeval towns, and the harriers are reduced 

 to a few struggiers, solely maintained by private protectors; 

 the pine marten, badger and otter are threatened with extinc- 

 tion, the polecat and wild cat have within our time followed 

 the wolf and bear. The raven once nested in our midst but 

 now only exists in the wilds ; the lesser fry have suffered too, 

 though in a smaller degree. It was woe to many creatures 

 when gunpowder came into general use, it was the end when 

 the lethal weapon was " improved." 



When engaged in warfare against the smaller creatures, 

 especially those which are in reality his parasites, Man usually 



