Introductory 



ment was to be meted out to Toads and Frogs which 

 presently holds good in the case of creeping reptiles, it 

 would be either a matter of extermination, or a gradual 

 retreat of the Toads and Frogs to a place of safety. 

 While the miniature serpents of our land are hiding in 

 unfrequented paths, the favoured few of our amphibians 

 croak just outside our city walls. Thus the reptiles 

 hide from their enemies, as outlaws, in remote situa- 

 tions, while we have the Toads and Frogs practically at 

 our doors. Between these two extremes the Newts, 

 which are the kindred of both, inhabit the middle 

 regions. This is true in a general sense, although each 

 and all overlap the zones named, at times. In a broad 

 survey, however, it will be seen that there are three 

 great divisions, the most remote being that occupied 

 by the creatures against whom man's wrath is constant. 

 No wild animal can compete with man once he pro- 

 nounces its death-warrant. No creature of the moors 

 or hedges can vie with the trapper's arts. The gun of 

 the gamekeeper is a mighty weapon ; it can make or 

 mar a landscape. But Nature, apart from man, works 

 out its daily round and common task in simplicity ; it 

 is the intervention of man and his arts that upsets 

 Nature's balance. Food is the first, climate the second, 

 and general environment the third factor in the dis- 

 tribution of the British fauna. Given food, an animal 

 will face rigorous climatic conditions ; given genial air- 

 currents, it will adapt itself to extraneous circumstances ; 

 given freedom and peacefulness, it will live out its days 



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