THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN AND PESTS 183 



But new ideas of the value of a native fauna have taken 

 root and already bear promising fruit. The success of a game- 

 drive is not everything. There must be balanced against 

 the bag of grouse and the head of pheasants and partridges, 

 the majesty of the eagle's flight, the grace of the kestrel's 

 hover, the lithe movements of the marten in the forest and 

 of the ermine in the coverts. And who will say that the 

 beauty of nature is to be filched from the countryside for the 

 sake of the bag of game ? 



