748 THE SMALL-MAMMAL PROBLEM 



shelter to small mammals. Our rural rodent population will 

 then be kept within bounds by the action of the weather, and 

 of its chief enemies, the carnivorous mammals and birds. It 

 is of vital importance, to general agriculture and to the 

 nation at large, that we should preserve a sufficiently strong 

 carnivorous element in our fauna. We possess no better 

 friends than the Weasel, the Stoat, our native Owls, and the 

 Kestrel, since small rodents form the staple food of all these 

 animals. 



But our carnivora are systematically persecuted through- 

 out the country and brought to the verge of extinction. The 

 game preserver endeavours to rear annually a stock of game 

 far in excess of the natural capacity of his estate, hoping each 

 season to produce a great surplus which he may destroy for 

 pleasure and profit. This cannot be done to so large an 

 extent in the presence of carnivora as in their absence ; carni- 

 vora will help themselves to part of the surplus produced. 

 Therefore carnivora are proscribed ; and the preserver and 

 his keeper ruthlessly destroy that, which, in the national 

 interest, should be carefully protected. It is said that the 

 rearer of poultry will suffer if carnivora become abundant. 

 But it must be remembered that carnivorous tastes are not 

 peculiar to the Order Carnivora or to the Birds of Prey ; 

 the development of such a taste is often a mere matter of 

 opportunity, and the Common Rat frequently shows itself to 

 be as carnivorous, and as destructive of life as any species 

 of true carnivore, its crimes being often laid at the doors of 

 other species. If the poultry farmer, the fancier, and the 

 game preserver protect their stocks from the ravages of the 

 Common Rat, they will have little to fear from the much 

 hated carnivora. Everything in this world has its price, and 

 carnivora do not form an exception to that rule ; we need 

 them and must pay the price, but whether we buy cheaply 

 or dearly depends entirely upon ourselves. 



