as Enemies of Mankind. 



47 



of their banished foes ; in such a case their high fecundity would 

 make them most formidable ; game and poultry would suffer 

 immediately, and to a far greater extent than they have ever done 

 from all our living carnivora combined. 



It is open to question whether entire immunity from attack by 

 carnivora is a good thing, in the long run, for game. Be that as it 

 may, the preservation of a sufficient stock of carnivora is of vital 

 importance to the welfare of general agriculture and the national 

 interest. If the continued existence of predatory animals be really 

 incompatible with game preservation — so much the worse for the 

 latter. 



With all the foregoing considerations in mind, it may be safely 

 asserted that not one of our living native species of mammal or 

 bird should be persecuted to extinction ; each has to play its part 

 in maintaining the balance of nature in this realm ; and the present 

 state of knowledge does not warrant a belief that any member of 

 the native fauna may be safely dispensed with. It may be 

 necessary to check the undue increase of certain species from time 

 to time, to set bounds to their wanderings, and to protect our 

 possessions from their ravages ; but that is all. The projected 

 extermination of the Brown Rat, Black Rat, and House Mouse, in 

 Britain, is justifiable biologically solely upon the ground that these 

 three species are alien ; but just because they are now so well 

 established here, the extermination of the Rats, without due pre- 

 cautions, may lead to serious trouble with other species, as 

 suggested at p. 42. As a parting word to the agriculturist it may 

 be said that the less he persecutes the wild fauna, the better off he 

 himself will be in the long run. Everything worth having costs 

 something, and a wild fauna is no exception to that rule. A reason- 

 able burden must be borne on account of each species involved ; 

 if that burden be refused we may have to shoulder a heavier one. 



I would take this opportunity of confessing my great in- 

 debtedness to the little book by the late O. Winge, cited below ; 

 first published in 1886, a second edition appeared in 1911, 

 furnished with a preface and notes by the author's brother Dr. 

 Herluf Winge, the great naturalist of Copenhagen. If this book 

 were translated it might be read with profit — though not always 

 with pleasure — by all interested in the welfare of Rural Britain, and 

 particularly by those who doubt the value of carnivora, or who think, 

 for example, that the destruction of such " vermin" would lead to 

 a great increase in the numbers of " useful " insectivorous birds. 



