THE PRESERVATION OF OUR FAUNA 195 



ing, have accomplished much. Public feeling was and is 

 strong, and, backed by indifferent legislation, it has so far 

 checked destruction that many species have benefited. 

 Here comes an anticlimax : some of the species, actively 

 or passively protected, have increased so enormously 

 that they have exceeded the natural limits, overweighed 

 the balance, and it is questionable whether further pro- 

 tection is or is not desirable. The aesthetic and humani- 

 tarian school are shocked at any suggestion of relaxation; 

 the economic and scientific are in doubt, the first because 

 personal interests are affected, the second because of 

 the uncertainty of interference with nature's balance. 



The world is a big place, but it is a very varied one; its 

 inhabitants, whether human or otherwise, are unevenly 

 distributed. Vast tracts are sparsely populated, others 

 are sadly congested, but there is reason for the irregularity. 

 The unpopulated areas are unfit, at any rate during a 

 portion of the year, for a crowded population; the con- 

 gested areas are the ones where food is obtainable. When 

 we exclude from our thoughts colonising man, who has 

 the power to some extent of altering the whole face of a 

 country, we see that the lower forms must either remain 

 in or travel to and from the best food-supplying districts 

 or perish. Britain is a typically crowded area, and is so 

 well stocked with various forms of life that we may treat 

 it as a fair example of a food area. It supplies just the 

 necessary amount of food to make life endurable for just 

 that number of creatures which it can support; in other 

 words, there are enough and not too many of each form 

 existing within its bounds, and this required number 

 depends entirely upon the seasonal supply of vegetable 

 food, and the balanced and regular supply of animal food 

 which depends upon the vegetation. Any shortage, due to 

 climatic variation, of the vegetable food supply is imme- 

 diately followed by famine, which means not only famine 



