THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 



luxury, as is seen in the wild stampede of the reindeer 

 when the longing to visit the salt seashore becomes 

 irresistible many are overthrown and trampled 

 in the mad rush. We must include here the battles 

 of the stags and the tournaments of the blackcock 

 at sunrise on the hills. 



But the struggle for existence is also between 

 foes of quite different kinds. We see it between 

 carnivores and herbivores, between birds of prey 

 and small mammals, between wasps and quieter 

 insects. There is sometimes a stand-up fight, 

 for instance between wolf and stag, or between 

 hawk and ermine. But sometimes the fight is all 

 on one side, for the stupid little guinea-pig-like 

 lemmings which go on the march when they are 

 overcrowded and when food has become scarce 

 in the Scandinavian valleys, can offer almost no 

 resistance to the birds of prey and beasts of prey 

 which follow them and thin their ranks. 



Moreover, the competition between different kinds 

 of creatures need riot be very direct ; it is enough if 

 both kinds seek after the same things of which there 

 is a limited supply. The victory will be with the 

 strongest and most efficient, or it may be with those 

 that multiply most rapidly. There is a very real, 

 though mainly indirect, struggle between coarse 

 and finer grasses which are spreading in the same 

 bare stretch of ground for instance after a fire in 

 the South African veldt, or between the bracken 

 and the grass, even between the bracken and the 

 heather, on the Highland hills. 



But the true picture of the struggle for existence 

 229 



