204 BRITISH FERTILITY. 



altered conditions. It is so with the plants and prob- 

 ably so with the animals. Thus, the chimney-swal- 

 lows give up the hollow trees for the chimneys, the 

 cliff-swallows desert the cliffs for the eaves of the 

 barns, the squirrels find they can live in and about 

 the fields, etc. In my own locality, our native mice 

 are becoming much more numerous about the build- 

 ings than formerly ; in the older settled portions of 

 the country, the flying squirrel often breeds in the 

 houses ; the wolf does not seem to let go in the West 

 as readily as he did in the East ; the black bear is 

 coming back to parts of the country where it had not 

 been seen for thirty years. 



I noticed many traits among the British animals 

 and birds that looked like the result both of the sharp 

 competition going on among themselves in their 

 crowded ranks and of association with man. Thus, 

 the partridge not only covers her nest, but carefully 

 arranges the grass about it so that no mark of her 

 track to and fro can be seen. The field mouse lays 

 up a store of grain in its den in the ground, and then 

 stops up the entrance from within. The woodcock, 

 when disturbed, flies away with one of her young 

 snatched up between her legs, and returns for another 

 and another. The sea-gulls devour the grain in the 

 fields ; the wild ducks feed upon the oats ; the crows 

 and jackdaws pull up the sprouts of the newly- 

 planted potatoes ; the grouse, partridges, pigeons, 

 fieldfares, etc., attack the turnips ; the hawk fre- 

 quently snatches the wounded game from under the 



