368 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



large tracts of land for Deer-forests and game preserves; but the 

 naturalist must admit that these gentlemen have been the means of 

 preserving a number of animals that otherwise would have become 

 extinct. Their preserves are sanctuaries of wild life, both animal 

 and vegetable. Their keepers sometimes commit the indiscretion 

 of shooting rare birds which might with advantage be permitted 

 to increase, and their Deer and Pheasants are not beloved of the 

 farmers who suffer their depredations. For the sake of sport, the 

 Fox is kept in existence, much to the annoyance of the chicken- 

 raiser; but the general tendency of man's dominion in Nature is 

 undoubtedly in the direction of the survival of the useful and the 

 extinction of pests. Man may have that in him which in a certain 

 sense raises him above Nature, but as to his physical life and in 

 his physical requirements he is a part of Nature a member of 

 the animal kingdom. His arrival has changed the countenance of 

 things in a more marked and speedy fashion than the arrival of 

 any of his predecessors; but he is the supreme factor in Nature's 

 ever-changing panorama; an aider and abettor of the process of 

 natural selection. Through him a mighty work is being accom- 

 plished the elimination of the foul and vicious, and the perpetua- 

 tion and supremacy of the harmless, clean and useful. 



But in spite of the changes wrought by man, the great struggle 

 for existence has not been arrested ; indeed, he has been compelled 

 to take part in that struggle, not only with lower nature, but also 

 with his own kind. The struggle of man with man for the necessi- 

 ties of life has been long and keen ; but we are slowly learning better 

 ways. Co-operation, mutual aid and the solidarity of the race enter 

 into our visions "and dreams. However, the ground of competition 

 is only shifting, the spirit of it is taking new and harmless forms, 

 but will never perish. In sub-human realms the struggle is as keen 

 as ever, the race is still to the swift and the battle to the strong. 

 The strange drama goes on and develops in its own wonderful way. 

 The fauna of a thousand, nay, a hundred years ago was not that 

 of to-day; what is common now may be extinct a few centuries 

 hence, perhaps much sooner. 



The original ancestors of man are extinct. His remains have 

 been discovered, and they show that there is as much difference 

 between him and highest man, as there was between him and 

 highest ape. Primeval man had to disappear; he could not com- 

 pete with his bigger-brained progeny. 



