18 INTRODUCTORY. 



game is responsible for a deal of destruction ; but it 

 should not be forgotten that it is at the same time acting 

 in an opposite direction, and that, but for the landowner 

 and preserver, our country rambles would never be en- 

 livened with the sight of the passing fox or flying deer, 

 our meditations never broken by the sudden whir of 

 the grouse or the soft splash of the otter. For the lat- 

 ter, although undoubtedly much harassed by the riparian 

 owner, would perhaps have been exterminated were it not 

 that many an owner of a trout-stream has a soft corner 

 in his heart for an occasional day with the otter-hounds. 

 It would seem, indeed, as if the best chance of survival 

 lies, anomalous as it may appear, in being prized for the 

 chase ; and it may well be asked, Where will the wild cat 

 and marten be in another fifty years unless some kindly 

 soul discovers, ere it be too late, that there is legitimate 

 sport to be had out of them ? This will be a more 

 laudable venture than the more ambitious, though less 

 successful, efforts which are from time to time directed 

 towards the reintroduction of the beaver and boar, or the 

 acclimatisation of zebus and musk-rat. 



There will always be this about the study of natural 

 history in these islands, though to many it will appear 

 but a poor recommendation, that it may be pursued with- 

 out risk, from either climate or the creatures themselves. 

 Our climate, subject though it is to sudden changes, is 

 neither too hot nor too cold to put a stop to field natural 

 history throughout the year. In this we are singularly 

 blest, for there are few other lands of which as much 

 could be said. Even on those portions of the Continent 

 that lie at our door there are, as more than one ill-fated 

 expedition of other days learnt to its cost, great dangers 

 in the seasonal changes. Those who have, as I have, gone 

 in search of birds' nests in the Roman Maremma, will 

 appreciate, what we have to be thankful for. Nor are the 

 beasts of these islands any more fearsome than the climate. 

 Our existing carnivora would, save on rare occasions the 



