THE PRESERVATION OF OUR FAUNA 199 



who are framing laws for protection has been how far the 

 taking of eggs of the lapwing should be prohibited; the 

 usual conclusion is that the lapwing is wholly insecti- 

 vorous, using this word in that wider sense which means 

 invertebrate-ivorous, and that therefore it should receive 

 the fullest protection. But two other interests are taken 

 into consideration the one commercial, for the eggs are 

 in demand in the market, the other a matter of policy, 

 the attitude towards the farmer and his hands ; it is unwise 

 to add restrictions which it is difficult to enforce. There- 

 fore, in most cases eggs may be taken up to a certain date, 

 but after that they are protected. But supposing that 

 full protection is granted to the bird, and it increases, 

 are we sure that increase is desirable ? The lapwing 

 may, when in its normal numbers, confine its attention to 

 certain food, say the larvae of root-eating moths, larvae of 

 phytophagous dipt era and coleoptera, such as crane-flies 

 and wireworms, or to the small molluscs which certainly 

 do damage. But does the bird confine its attention to 

 these ? Does it sagely examine and leave unmolested 

 the larva of a carnivorous beetle ? Can it, or indeed any 

 bird which follows the ploughman, distinguish between 

 the grub of a cockchafer and that of the fertilising dung 

 beetle ? And, if it could, have we any reason to suppose 

 that it would leave the so-called useful insect for our 

 benefit ? And in particular, does it or does it not eat 

 earthworms, and if it does, is it doing us good or harm ? 

 Darwin, the great earthworm's advocate, showed the 

 utility of this despised creature, but may we not have too 

 many earthworms ? It is an unsettled problem. Leave 

 the worm problem to the mole, some say; but do we ? 

 We destroy the mole, yet not, if we are honest, because it 

 devours the worm, but because it throws up unsightly 

 and awkward mounds, obstacles to tillage, or, in many 

 instances, because it has a pelt which has commercial 



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