III. 4 



THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN 

 AND PESTS 



IN the gamekeeper's "larder" or "museum," that miscel- 

 laneous collection of fresh bodies and dried skins nailed 

 round the girth of a tree or tacked to a doorpost, we have 

 a tangible epitome of the destruction of vermin. The assort- 

 ment of Stoats, Magpies, Hooded Crows, Jackdaws, Weasels, 

 and alas, Owls, must be so familiar to every lover of the 

 country, as to make it unnecessary here to enter into the 



70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 



Fig. 42. Decadence of "Vermin" Wild Cat, Marten and Polecat through twelve 

 years' work of one gamekeeper. The numbers are indicated on the left, the years beneath. 



details of the slaughter. Many of the creatures mentioned 

 in other connections in this account of man's destructiveness 

 have been allotted a place on the vermin lists Eagles, 

 Foxes, Wild Cats, Martens, Polecats, Ravens and Hawks, 

 and it cannot but be that, where keepers are employed 

 mainly with the view of destroying vermin for the sake of 

 game, a serious falling off in the original stock is likely to 

 follow. The result of a single keeper's efforts offers a sum- 

 mary of the whole, and, as represented in the diagram above, 

 shows how rapidly regular trapping may lead to the reduction 

 or disappearance of our native animals. In twelve years the 

 Marten may be regarded as having been exterminated in 



