Vol. VII. 



U)07 



Corycsp(>)rleiice. 



6i 



Correspondence. 



THE PROTECTION OF NATIVE GAME. 



To the Editors of " The Ein?(." 



Sirs, — ?ilay I call your attention to the following- letter, taken 

 from a Tasmanian newspaper of the current month, deahng 

 with one of the methods by which our native fauna is being 

 pushed out of existence. : — 



To the Editor of the " Launcestoii 

 ExaniincrP 



Sir, — From all sides we hear that 

 the native game is fast disappearing, 

 in spite of legislation designed to 

 protect it ; and the question is, Can 

 something not be done to put matters 

 upon a better basis } Various reasons 

 have been assigned for this scarcity 

 of game. It has been laid to the 

 charge of over-shooting, the close 

 cutting of stubble, Hawks, domestic 

 cats, and such like ; but I do not 

 think that all these put together will 

 equal the extinction of ()uail, Mag- 

 pies, kangaroo, opossum, and even 

 deer, by the use of poisoned grain. 

 I understand that in some districts 

 near Evandale, when the owner is 

 using poisoned grain to get rid of 

 rabbits, whole coveys of Brown Quail 

 can be found dead, and Magpies by 

 the dozen are to be picked up, having 

 fallen, poisoned, from their perches. 

 He also states that he came across 

 five deer lying dead in one spot, 

 while kangaroo and opossum are 

 lying dead all over the run in 

 question. What is the use of passing 

 laws for the protection of game when 

 a wholesale means of destruction is 

 allowed to prevail, and which is far 

 more destructive than any shooting 

 or trapping can be? In fact, it is 

 sheer waste of animal life, which 



Another method was connmented upon in a recent issue of 

 the same journal, where it was recorded that a beautiful White 

 Heron, a strictly protected bird ! had fallen to a gunner of 

 Scamander, on the East Coast. This was done quite openly, 

 the proud hunter publishing his execrable name without fear of 

 consequences. Mr. II. C. Thompson tells me that he recently 

 met a lad coming into town with a small gun on his shoulder 

 on which were strung a pair of Podargus, some of our fine Yellow- 

 throated Honey-eaters, and several Noisy Miners. Truly a 

 mixed bag ! And the shooter stalked through the middle of the 



could be turned to profitable account 

 in other ways. No inland town has 

 been more injured than the little 

 village of Evandale. The farms 

 surrounding the spot years ago were 

 the scene of busy agricultural 

 industry, second to none in the 

 .State ; but the farms became ab- 

 sorbed, and were given over to sheep, 

 the buildings went to decay, and 

 with the departure of the families 

 from the district the very village 

 itself has partaken of the general 

 decay. I remember remarking the 

 state of affairs to one of the owners 

 in question at one time, and, while 

 admitting the fact was as stated, he 

 said : — " The sheep pay best, and 

 the sheep shall have the land." 

 But, coming back to the question of 

 game preserving and poisoned 

 grain. Will not the sportsmen of 

 the North take the matter in hand, 

 and endeavour to do something .'' I 

 am quite certain that trapping would 

 do much more to reduce the rabbits, 

 and that without any charge to the 

 landlord, if men were permitted to 

 operate and put an end to a practice 

 that is at once wasteful, barbarous, 

 and injurious to other interests in 

 the State at large.— Yours, iS:c. , 



Native Game. 

 6th May, 1907. 



