I02 Transactions of the [Sess. 



stantly on the chain, and little attention paid to him ; and at last 

 he became so fierce, that his food had to be given to him at the end 

 of a stable fork. Having broken his chain one day, he got into the 

 owner's house, the occupants of which speedily vanished ; and the 

 question came to be, how was the dog to be destroyed? This 

 never became necessary ; for on a few kind words being spoken 

 to him, and on his being quietly approached and his chain taken 

 off, he was tractable as a child, and thereafter proved his gratitude 

 by long years of faithful service and loving obedience. 



In regard to the ferret's brother the weasel, and other animals at 

 present outside the pale of respectable society, it occurs to any one 

 who has given a thought to the matter that there is something 

 radically wrong in the incessant warfare which gamekeepers and 

 others wage against the animals known as vermin, which class has 

 been augmented of late years by the addition of Eooks and Wood- 

 pigeons. These outcasts often make the best pets, and no more 

 amusing friends can be had than Ravens, Hooded-Crows, Magpies, 

 Jackdaws, &c. In the indiscriminate war waged against vermin, 

 many innocent suffer with the guilty, and it is useless in most 

 cases to argue with the class of people in charge of game. But 

 even as regards Hawks, Hooded-Crows, Stoats, Weasels, and the 

 like, one is justified in thinking that game would be no scarcer, or 

 if scarcer, of a decidedly better quality, were these creatures 

 allowed to take their chance with others. "Live and let live" is a 

 wise motto, and they wlio upset the balance of nature are certain 

 themselves to be the sufferers, — as witness those districts where the 

 inhabitants made a raid upon the small birds, with the result that 

 the place was soon thereafter infested to such an extent with aU 

 manner of insects, that birds had to be brought from other quarters 

 to supply the place, in so far as that was possible, of those which 

 had been lately destroyed. If Hawks were allowed to live, they 

 would keep small birds in check ; and if small birds were let alone, 

 they would look after grubs, which do more harm to fruit than 

 whole regiments of Blackbirds. If it was not considered necessary 

 to stamp out the weasel and his relatives, rabbits would not at the 

 present time be the pests they are. The day will yet come, how- 

 ever, when ignorant men at cross-purposes will not be allowed to take 

 upon themselves the task of regulating the animal world, and kill 

 and slay the members thereof, not necessarily on account of crimes 

 committed, but seemingly only because it is the tradition of their 

 class that it is the proper thing to do. One would not have such a 

 right to complain if there was any method in the madness of the 

 believers in the vermin extermination theory, and if the vermin 

 suffered because of the harm they were doing. But to kill, say for 

 instance, a Hawk, simply because he is a Hawk, is surely too bad. 

 Then as regards Owls : Owls have always been noted for their wise 



