UNDER THE MAPLES 



with the stupid, the sharp-eyed and sharp-eared 

 with the dull of eye and ear, the keen of scent with 

 the blunt of scent — which we call natural competi- 

 tion; but the slow, the stupid, the dull-eyed, 

 dull-eared, and dull-scented find their place and 

 thrive for all that. They are dull and slow be- 

 cause they do not need to be otherwise; the con- 

 ditions of their lives do not require speed and 

 sharpness. The porcupine has its barbed quills, 

 the skunk its pungent secretion. All parts of 

 nature dovetail together. The deer and the 

 antelope kind have speed and sharp senses because 

 their enemies have speed and sharp senses. The 

 small birds are keen-eyed and watchful because 

 the hawks are so, too. The red squirrel dominates 

 the gray squirrel, which is above him in size and 

 strength, and the chipmunk below him, but he 

 does not exterminate either. The chipmunk 

 burrows in the ground where the red cannot follow 

 him, and he lays up a store of nuts and seeds which 

 the red does not. The weasel easily dominates 

 the rat, but the rat prospers in spite of cats and 

 traps and weasels. 



The sifting of species is done largely by en- 

 vironment, the wet, the cold, the heat — the 

 fittest, or those best adapted to their environment, 

 survive. For some obscure reason they have a 

 fuller measure of life than those who fall by the 

 way. 



204 



