50 STALKS ABROAD 



Gardens. He writes as follows : "I am compelled 

 to believe that unless several great provincial game 

 and forest reserves are at once set aside in British 

 Columbia, the mountain sheep of that province are 

 doomed to extinction. In total numbers the sheep 

 in southern British Columbia are already down to 

 a very low point. Many an Eastern sportsman has 

 gone to that country to kill a big ram, worked hard, 

 spent nearly or quite $1000, and returned empty- 

 handed because of the scarcity of sheep." 



The tendency of the present generation is to 

 over-preserve, and no doubt it is a fault on the 

 right side. I do not wish it for a moment to be 

 thought that I am an opponent of preserves, on 

 the contrary I am strongly in their favour, but 

 most things can be overdone and where everything 

 is preserved there is nothing left to shoot ! It is 

 a most important question, this care of the wild 

 animals which still lurk in remote corners of the 

 world, and one which must be a subject of keen 

 interest to every true sportsman. The formation, 

 some few years ago, of a society for the Preserva- 

 tion of the Fauna of the British Empire, shows what 

 a strong public feeling there is on the matter. 



The best examples of the success which attends 

 a properly regulated reserve may be found in the 

 increase in numbers of every species of American 

 game to be found in the vicinity of the Yellowstone 

 Park. It is a statement not very remote from the 

 truth to say, that had it not been for this enormous 



