GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 271 



The Schedule 

 (i) Bustards, ducks, floricans, jungle fowl, partridges, 



pea-fowl, pheasants, pigeons, quail, sand-grouse, 



painted snipe, spur-fowl, woodcock, herons, egrets, 



rollers and kingfishers, 

 (ii) Antelopes, asses, bison, buffaloes, deer, gazelles, goats, 



hares, oxen, rhinoceroses and sheep. 



Some Reflections on the Act 



It will be of interest to consider in some slight detail 

 several of the provisions of this Act. The Provincial Rules 

 in force when it was passed comprised the Arms Act, Forest 

 Act and Fisheries Act. The new Act extends to all India 

 with the exception of Burma, and, of course, the Native 

 States. Some of these latter are, however, already doing 

 excellent work in Game Protection and others will doubtless 

 follow any firm lead set them by the Imperial Government. 



In many respects the present Act is a great improvement 

 on the draft one. Instead of being confined to " game " 

 animals and then endeavouring to define " game," " large " 

 animal, and " specified kind " of animal it contents itself 

 with the title "Wild Birds and Animals i\ct." The title, 

 zoologically, is unfortunate, since the word " animal " com- 

 prises the whole of the fauna. If only birds and beasts are 

 understood the title should have been " birds and mammals." 

 I use the word " animal" to include the fauna as a whole. 

 Section 2 (i) of the Act makes it applicable to certain classes 

 of animals and birds specified in the Schedule, but with the 

 saving clause, 2 (2) that the Local Government may by 

 notification in the local Gazette apply the provisions of the 

 Act to any kind of Wild Bird or Animal, other than those 

 specified in the Schedule which, in its opinion, it is desirable 

 to preserve. Thus in this respect the onus is put upon the 

 shoulders of the Local Government. This is also the case 

 with reference to the " close seasons." The responsibility of 

 declaring a close season either for a part or the whole of the 

 year for any species — " Kind of wild bird or animal," as the 

 Act puts it — to which the Act applies is laid on the Local 

 Authority. 



The Schedule is the weak part of section 2 (i). It would 

 have been far better either to have drawn it out in a more 

 detailed form or to have omitted it altogether, the Local 



