334 Nature's Militia 



mice in Dumfriesshire and elsewhere with the dis- 

 appearance of the birds of prey, it is being clearly 

 recognised in America that without the latter sparrows 

 are a sad mistake. In the States, birds of prey are 

 comparatively rare ; not because they have been killed 

 off, as with us, but because nature had not provided 

 them — a very different matter. But now that the 

 English sparrow has made himself unpleasantly 

 obtrusive, hawks are being imported as the only likely 

 means of quelling him. Why hawks instead of owls 

 is not evident, but it will be interesting to watch the 

 result of this second experiment ; for if the hawks in 

 their turn should increase to excess they might prove 

 even worse than sparrows. 



In some parts of the world the balance of animal 

 life established by nature is very curious, and any 

 interference with it is attended by danger. In some 

 districts in India, for instance, the tiger is as useful 

 to the farmer as owl and hawk are here. If he kills 

 off the tigers, as his English brother kills the bfrds 

 of prey, then the deer multiply and eat his crops ; and 

 on the other hand, ' if he kills off the deer, the tigers 

 kill him, for even a tiger must live !' so that on the 

 whole he finds it better not to interfere. 



We have already mentioned the stoat and weasel as 

 most useful in keeping down the numbers of rats, 

 mice and rabbits, and the hedgehog as being a 

 devourer of insects, with absolutely no bad habits 

 to take from its value. Yet all these are persecuted 

 without mercy as ' vermin,' chiefly from habit, in all 

 probability; for the old stories as to the hedgehog's 

 milking the cows, and rolling itself on fruit and eggs, 



