THE PINE MARTEN
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The only chance of preserving the pine marten in Britain, if it is not already too late, is to bring strong pressure to bear on landowners in districts it may still inhabit to induce them to- abandon all rabbit trapping. As long as gin traps continue to be set in rabbit burrows nothing can save the marten, but the new and much more effective method of gassing renders gin traps unnecessary, rabbits fetching so little on the market at the present time that, if their damage to crops and pasture is ended, there is little call to trouble about the loss of the carcases.
The common idea that plagues of rabbits and rats would not occur if birds and beasts of prey were spared, superficially plausible though it be, does not work out in practice.. Neither in England nor in the wilder countries abroad do the large enemies of rodents effectively control their increase. Disease germs and internal • parasites are the real " controls " and periodical epidemics cause cycles of increase and decrease often of remarkable regularity.—Yours very truly,
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