THE EXTINCTION OF ANIMALS 



113 



the antelopes have been driven off, killed and run down, 

 until to-day they are extremely rare, while the elk is only 

 saved from extinction by being herded in reserves. Those 

 in the Southern Sierras are to be restocked with them and 

 the animals protected. 



When the Americans took possession of California, or 

 came in great numbers to the coast, the grizzly bear was 

 extremely common, and it was one of the sports to bait 

 up the animals over night 

 and lasso them. They have 

 been killed off so com- 

 pletely that a grizzly is ex- 

 tremely rare in Southern 

 California. In twenty years 

 the author can recall but 

 two having been killed, the 

 huge animals having been 

 driven to the most inac- 

 cessible regions, where they 

 will in time be hunted down 

 and exterminated except 

 those in the Yellowstone 

 and other national reserves. 



In England, Ireland, and other localities are found the re- 

 mains of the so-called Irish elk, a magnificent creature that 

 lived in the Post-tertiary time and doubtless was run down 

 by the early man, suggesting the fate of all the big-horned 

 animals of the country in later times. They fade away be- 

 fore the advance of the human hunter, who too often kills 

 without regard to the future and to satisfy his own de- 

 sires and wants. 



HOLDER, MAMMALS — 8 



Fig. 96. —The Grizzly Bear. 



