272 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



Government being empowered in clause 2 (2) to enumerate 

 a list of birds and animals which might be exempted from the 

 protection of the Act from time to time, when their numbers 

 had become excessive or for other specified reason^ The 

 periods of such exemption to be limited to a certain maxi- 

 mum, an extension of which period would require the 

 sanction of the Government of India. 



But even better than this would, I think, have been the 

 preparation of a list of the fauna by groups and its inclusion 

 in the Act. This, of course, can be done by Local Govern- 

 ments and it is a step which, I believe, is being undertaken 

 in some Provinces. On this question I made the following 

 remarks in my paper read in 1911 : 



" If the drafters of the Act were to apply to any Zoologist 

 in the country who has a practical working and sporting 

 knowledge of the game life of India they could be furnished 

 with detailed lists of animals both large and small ; and by 

 ' animals ' I here mean ' mammals ' classified, say, into 

 some such groups as, e.g. 



" (a) Carnivora. Each species in the country to be quoted. 



" (b) Herbivora. Each species in the country to be quoted. 

 " The various deer, antelope, goats and sheep are all 

 perfectly well known, and the preparation of lists detail- 

 ing each animal by name is an absolutely easy matter. 



" (c) Rodentia. Including the hares, porcupines, etc., the 

 total extinction of which from a sporting point of view is far 

 from desirable. 



" (d) A General Group which may be made to include the 

 rest of the Mammalia. This would allow protection to be 

 extended, should it be deemed necessary from the point of 

 view of the preservation of the species in the case of rare 

 species now perhaps being exterminated for the value of 

 their fur or for other reasons, to animals not at present 

 included in the sportsman's category of Game. 



" Turning to the Birds. There is no distinction made 

 between migratory birds and non-migratory birds, and no 

 mention made at all of Insectivorous Birds, and yet the 

 distinction is one of enormous value in a great agricultural 

 country like India, where the benefit the cultivators must 

 derive annually from insectivorous birds is quite incalculable. 



" I suggest that the Birds be sharply defined into groups 

 and the names of all the game birds and of all the chief 

 insectivorous birds be definitely given in the Act. This like- 



