192 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



again, in our time at least. Close seasons all sportsmen 

 would wish to see. Indiscriminate slaughter of animals, 

 large and small heads and does, is simple blood-thirstiness 

 and cruelty. But it is a restriction in India to those who 

 have enjoyed the shoot-as-you-please fashion to be limited 

 to a total of so many head, to find species barred to all 

 shooting, and so on. 



This state of affairs is attributable to the unchecked, 

 indiscriminate slaughter of the past ; to the extremely 

 inefficient game laws and rules in force in the different 

 Provinces ; to the carelessness with which gun licences 

 were issued and the deplorable absence of supervision which 

 was maintained over those who received them ; and last, but 

 not least, to the unchecked snaring and trapping of animals 

 by methods which often exhibit a maximum of devilish 

 cruelty. These matters are dealt with in Part II. BrilHant 

 exceptions there were especially amongst the magistrates 

 and forest officers who were themselves real sportsmen ; 

 but, in most cases, of real supervision there was none, and 

 the fauna of the country has suffered terribly accordingly. 



