KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 403 



exercise their intellectual faculties for the furtherance of the 

 interests committed to their charge. If they have a fault, it is 

 an old-fashioned conservatism, tinged with professional pride, 

 which makes them slow to adopt new ideas ; but once they have 

 tested new methods, and found them good, all prejudice is cast 

 to the winds, and they become ardent followers of the cause of 

 reform. 



VERMIN AND VERMIN-KILLING. 



By a misuse of the term " balance of nature " an argument The 

 is upheld in favour of the preservation of birds and beasts that of miufre 

 prey upon the Red Grouse. 



To speak of a restoration of the "balance of nature" as 

 desirable for the improvement of Grouse moors is beside the 

 point so long as the whole object of every proprietor is to upset 

 that balance in favour of one species only. 



How far the destruction of all animals and birds of prey as 

 " vermin " is reasonable, and which of them is most detrimental 

 to a Grouse moor, are questions which should have been settled 

 long ago, yet the discussion as to the use and abuse of vermin- 

 killing has now continued for more than half a century, and still 

 affords ample opportunity to gentlemen of leisure to air their 

 views in the local press, 



The controversialists may be divided into two parties. The Argumants 

 one, the more earnest and generally the more articulate, argue 

 that to kill vermin is to interfere with the order of creation vermin - 

 and to upset the balance of animal life on the moor. They 

 assert that the mortality due to " Grouse Disease " is of man's 

 own making, because by the introduction of protective measures 

 the weak are preserved as well as the strong, and thus the breed 

 is allowed to deteriorate. They contend that if eagles and foxes 

 were allowed to multiply, all the sickly Grouse would be 

 destroyed by them, and only the fittest would survive. 



In the other camp may be reckoned those who believe in 

 action rather than in argument, the moor-owner, the sportsman, 



