Now some of the afforestcrs have g ▪ rievous sins to
their
charge. They see an enemy in any creature with a beak or a tooth, and order the destruction both of blackcock and squirrel. But in this recent charge I am wholly on the side of the foresters. If the proper food of the stoat is killed of within the borders of the foresters it must tend in the long run not to increase but to diminish the tale of vermin. Besides this, the so-called plague of stoats has been quite as obvious in other districts, for example in Hertfordshire, as in Norfolk. There is no doubt—though the reason is not easy to name— that last year was a peak year " in the population of both rats and stoats. Whenever this happens, local reasons are alleged ; but evidence goes to show that the population of most rodents and many birds is subject to some general periodic law. Perhaps stoats are really on the increase. They were as common as rats on many estates a hundred years ago ; and the balance of nature has been upset by the special attack made on them by keepers, so called. Happily, the weasel is on the way to be recognized as a friend even of the inveterate game-preserver ; and it would be of service if a good deal of the time spent in destroying stoats were devoted to the diminution of the rats, which are by far the most destructive of the countryman's enemies.
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