1 6 FOREST TITHES 
prevent this had not also the knowledge and the dis- 
position to do it. One by one our wild animals and 
birds are dwindling down as to numbers : not shot or 
trapped on account of any real harm they may do, 
but for the money the creatures fetch, dead or living. 
One hears in all directions of the harm done by 
rabbits, although the Ground Game Act has been 
passed. What can be expected when the creatures 
that were there to keep the pin-wire vermin in check 
are killed ? Besides which, these are bred in vast 
numbers expressly for the markets. 
Our vermin-killers polecats, stoats, and weasels 
have been captured and bought in wholesale numbers, 
in order that they may be exported to some of our 
colonies to kill the rabbits which were formerly intro- 
duced there by mischievous bunglers, and which now 
prove a curse to the land. Change of climate and 
habitat alters the habits of creatures that are not in- 
digenous. It will be found that polecats, stoats, and 
weasels will turn out another curse ; instead of killing 
off the rabbits, they will certainly prove an inveterate 
foe to poultry and to the small animals that are native 
to the soil. I speak feelingly on this subject, as one 
whose opinion on the matter has been often asked 
and freely given, yet never followed. This acclima- 
tising question is a most unsettled one, but it will 
