230 THE BALANCE OF NATURE 



wild animals that devastate his fields; but when 

 game is scarce or non-existent, and the tiger 

 preys systematically on his cattle, he is addressed 

 with opprobrious epithets, and the assistance of 

 the Sahibs is invoked for his destruction. Here 

 in our own country we have got into a way of 

 loosely classing certain beasts and birds as 

 ' vermin/ to be destroyed in every way possible 

 without further trial, and of this habit it may be 

 of interest to consider a few examples. 



To take first our own larger carnivora, the 

 fox, the badger, and the otter, there is un- 

 doubtedly something to be said on both sides of 

 the question. It must be admitted at once that 

 in the sheep-farming Highlands of to-day the 

 fox is a nuisance, and cannot be tolerated, but 

 in the Lowlands the case is different. Leaving 

 aside entirely the question of fox-hunting as a 

 sport, the balance of evidence on the whole 

 seems in favour of the fox. His chief food is 

 usually the rabbit, and surely there are more 

 than enough of these for him and for us ; but he 

 is also fond of much smaller game, such as field 

 mice and voles, for which he hunts assiduously, 

 as well as of beetles and other of the larger 

 insects ; on the whole, the verdict of an intelli- 

 gent agricultural jury will be ' not guilty/ 



To turn to another of our larger carnivora, 



