THE BALAJSrCE OF NATURE. 21 



As Sir D. Wedclerburn states, if we wish 

 birds to increase, ' improved conditions of exist- 

 ence are even more important than protection.' 

 It is when Man supphes both that he obtains 

 really great results, and in no part of the world 

 mth which we are acquainted can any bird or 

 beast, except the Eaptores and Carnivora, be 

 said to enjoy a close time for breeding unless 

 Man interferes and procures for them this price- 

 less boon. But it is not by making laws which 

 bind only his fellow-men that he can do this. 

 Man's non-interference was Mr. Waterton's plan, 

 audit is to say ' peace where there is no peace.' 

 We can see the working of this system any day, 

 not on a little park of 300 acres, but on thousands 

 of miles of country in Asia and Africa, and 

 until quite lately on hundreds of square mUes 

 in the Highlands of Scotland, where popula- 

 tion is very scanty and where no one thought of 

 wasting a charge of powder by shooting a bird, 

 or of spending his time in looking for birds' 

 nests. 



