156 
The Balance of Nature. 
[April, 
to ignorance, Mr. Morant himself quotes, without any ex- 
pression of scepticism, the story “ of a gamekeeper who 
told the Rev. Mr. Tristram that ‘ he was sure the cuckoos 
turned into hawks in the winter, for if not, what became of 
them?’” We have ourselves heard German gamekeepers 
— who are, to say the least, quite as intelligent and well- 
informed as their English brethren — narrate the most fright- 
ful and grotesque stories concerning vipers, salamanders, 
and newts. But we shall easily understand what must be 
the behaviour of the gamekeepers towards birds and beasts 
by a reference to their conduct to men. As they classify all 
the lower animals under two heads, game and “ varmint,” 
so they view all mankind either as game-preservers or as 
poachers. A botanist or entomologist, however stridtly he 
may abstain from any aCt of trespass, is always in danger 
of annoyance and insult in districts where keepers are ram- 
pant ; and, in a manner perfectly analogous, whatsoever 
bird or beast is to them strange or novel, that they destroy.* 
But how are we to get over the evidence of Mr. Morant, 
who flatly asserts the contrary, and who, mistaken as we 
hold him to be, is evidently sincere ? Let us examine, in 
the first place, his point of view. His method of re- 
adjusting the disturbed balance of Nature we have already 
pronounced strange. He tells us, substantially, that if we 
will only preserve game by a diligent application of the 
system now in vogue, and especially by shooting down all 
hawks, jays, crows, and ravens, the end will be gained. 
The small birds, whose services we require to rid the land 
from inseCt pests, will be benefitted quite as much as the 
game. If Mr. Morant is in the right the game-preserver 
must be regarded as a public benefactor. The plea, it must 
be admitted, is highly ingenious, but we doubt if it can be 
pronounced valid. He sometimes forgets his zeal for the 
small birds. Thus, speaking of the black grouse, he ex- 
claims — “ Not a naturalist has a word to say for him, while 
the disappearance of such birds as the siskin or garden 
warbler is constantly regretted.” Naturalists might reply 
that — leaving gamebirds to the protection of theirnumerous 
and influential friends, the game-preservers — they plead for 
those that have hitherto had no proteCtor. At times, too, if 
not actually inconsistent, he aCts very decidedly up to the 
* To prevent any misunderstanding, we may state that we have not the 
least sympathy for the poacher. He very frequently graduates higher in the 
school of crime, and becomes a burglar, a sheep-stealer, perhaps a garotter : 
at the best he is but a gamekeeper in opposition. The two are respectively 
convertible, just as are the conspirator and the moucliard , or the martyr and 
the persecutor. 
