188 THE OPEN AIR. 



first, in a minute or two they come out again, and 

 so get shot. 



Like the fields, which can only support a certain 

 proportion of cattle, the forest, wide as it seems, can 

 only maintain a certain number of deer. Carrying 

 the same thought further, it will be obvious that 

 the forest, or England in a natural state, could only 

 support a limited human population. Is this why 

 the inhabitants of countries like France, where they 

 cultivate every rood and try to really keep a man to 

 a rood, do not increase in number ? Certainly there 

 is a limit in nature which can only be overcome by 

 artificial aid. After wandering for some time in a 

 forest like this, the impression arises that the fauna 

 is not now large enough to be in thorough keeping 

 with the trees— their age and size and number. The 

 breadth of the arboreal landscape requires a longer 

 list of living creatures, and creatures of greater bulk. 

 The stoat and weasel are lost in bramble and fern, 

 the squirrels in the branches ; the fox is concealed, 

 and the badger ; the rabbit, too, is small. There are 

 only the deer, and there is a wide gap between them 

 and the hares. Even the few cattle which are per- 

 mitted to graze are better than nothing ; though not 

 wild, yet standing in fern to their shoulders and 

 browsing on the lower branches, they are, at all 

 events, animals for the time in nearly a natural 

 state. By watching them it is apparent how well 

 the original wild cattle agreed with the original 

 scenery of the island. One almost regrets the marten 

 and polecat, though both small creatures, and wishes 

 that the fox would come forth more by day. These 



