The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-02
THE PASSING OF
ENGLAND'S FAUNA
Civilization Is Rapidly Forcing
Out of Existence Many of
the Wild Animals.
NOT ALL WILL BE MISSED
Still a Few Others Left and the
Skunk Among Them-The
Badger.

Wien a naturalist friend told me that
lie had been offered a wildcat for not
l,ss than thirty shillings during a re-
cent holiday in the Highlands was in
clined, says a writer in the Manchester
ENGLAND. Guardian, to be skeptical; u
when | remembered that the animal IS
believed TO be actually extinct in Eng
land and only seen at rare intervals III
Scotland fell to wondering sadly how
long the fauna of Britain, which has
done SO much to beautify and enhven
these islands, will continue to diminish,
and how soon the more interesting
species will all become xtinc For
the wildcat is only one of the English
anirnals and birds which, to the sorrow
OF the nature lover, will soon be I'M
known outside museums and collectors
homes.
There is the badger, for instance. In
ono respect he is the most interesting
of English animals; for he is the sole
surviving representative of the bear
family in the British Isles. Thirty or
forty years ago he was often caught IN
the South OF England and matched
against dogs. The ordinary course was
to place him in a barrel and set the
terriers to draw him out. This sport,
by the way, was prohibited by law in
the year 1880. A shy beast, he was a
good friend to the farmer; he would
..t1A o~1 aha
various insects which damage the
crops. He has now become very rare
indeed, and in many countries has been
quite exterminated. Although the wea-
sci can hardly be said to be nearing eX-
~tinctlon, he is becoming noticeably
rarer, for every mans hand Is against
him. A great many weasels have been
exported to New Zealand, where good
prices are paid for them to keep down
the rabbits. Indeed, in certain parts
they seem likely to become a pest in
their turn.
The old English black rat has been
nearly exterminated by its brown
brother from Norway, this being one
of the which Darwin gave of
his conclusion that the struggle for ex-
istence is keenest between closely al
lied species; but occasionally it appears
somewhere in these islands to remind
US that it is not yet extinct. Very
handsome is the animal, with it's glossy
coat, shining eyes, and long, slim body,
which was brought to Britain as a
stowaway in ships from the East Indies
in 1882. In Liverpool thirty years ago
1t was abundant among the
ships, occasional stragglers being
caught ashore; and four specimens
were trapped in 1879 in a ~shipbuilding
yard at Barrow-in-Furness. The
whalers in Dundee occasionally bring
them back from foreign parts, and they
are therefore sometimes found in that
port. I have been Informed several
times within recent years that they
frequent the Irwell in Manchester, but
that the specimens seen there are the
genuine black rat is extremely doubt
fu1.
The otter. a distant relative of the
badger, still visits the more secluded
streams of these islands. especially in
Scotland and Wales. I am afraid that
there is not much to be said in his
favor. for. as old Izaak Walton wrote,
.He devours much fish. and kills and
spoils much more than he eats And
yet, had we only the time and patience
TO domesticate him as the Egyptians
did the cat, we could perhaps have
tanned him into a useful servant who
would have caught fish easily for us,
and without a weekly wage. Bishop
Heber described how the natives of In
dia commonly kept tame offers to fish
for them, and they appear to have been
as sagacious with the fish as a collie is
with sheep. Sometimes they would
bring the larger fish out with their
teeth, and sometimes they would swim
and drive the shoals before them into
the nets. A certain Captain Freeman
once succeeded in training a young otter
so perfectly that it followed him about
like a dog and caught salmon in the
streams. l do not think an otter has
been seen in LONDON since the year 1868
AS a coachman was walking along
Aberdeen place, leading from MAZDA
Hill to st. Johns Wood, he observed
one trotting along close to the wall, ano
promptly kicked it TO death. 1t was
believed to have Travelled up the cana.
to Mazda Hill, and no doubt the brave
coachman became a hero in his own es'
timation and thai OF his friends.
The polecat is interesting because he
is the .fathe OF our ferret. He also
is now very rare. and when captured
is always mcrcilessly slain. / remem'
her, not long ago, one being shot II
Devonshire which was suspected o.
knowing something about the disap'
pearance of certain young fowls ant
ducklings. He is a long, graceful
animal. and I do not see any reason
why he also should not be tanned, jus
as the mongoose is in India. TIN
beautiful pinemarten is still TO h'
found in the mountainous parts %
Cumberland and Westmoreland, wher'
IL if often hunted with foxllounds, 1t il
as extinct as tho Cornish language il
the South of England. Perhaps it il
as well, for it must be admitted they
are dangerous TO the birds. In TIL.
nest of one marten-they live in trees
which was shot on the moors at Holm
firth, in Yorkshire, there was founC
of feathers, feet and bones of birds
TO fill a sack.
What are the chief causes which are
bringing about this steady decline il
the number of species of the E,nglisl
fauna? I have already mentioned thu
minor one of the decline of agvicui
ture. First and foremost we have th'
incurable mania of the collector L
secure the last specimens of any birC
-. - H ~-Is-t, L. &hfAIg- t@ ara,