188 AN AMERICAN HUNTER 



States, both individually among the deer of certain locali- 

 ties, and also as between all the deer of one locality when 

 compared with all the deer of another. Our present 

 knowledge of the various forms hardly justifies us in dog- 

 matizing as to their exact relative worth; and even if our 

 knowledge was more complete, naturalists are as yet 

 wholly at variance as to the laws which should govern 

 specific nomenclature. However, the hunter, the mere 

 field naturalist, and the lover of out-door life, are only 

 secondarily interested in the niceness of these distinc- 

 tions. 



In addition to being a true sportsman and not a game 

 butcher, in addition to being a humane man as well as 

 keen-eyed, strong-limbed, and stout-hearted, the big 

 game hunter should be a field naturalist. If possible, 

 he should be an adept with the camera; and hunting with 

 the camera will tax his skill far more than hunting with 

 the rifle, while the results in the long run give much 

 greater satisfaction. Wherever possible he should keep 

 a note-book, and should carefully study and record the 

 habits of the wild creatures, especially when in some 

 remote regions to which trained scientific observers but 

 rarely have access. If we could only produce a hunter 

 who would do for American big game what John Bur- 

 roughs has done for the smaller wild life of hedgerow 

 and orchard, farm and garden and grove, we should in- 

 deed be fortunate. Yet even though a man does not 

 possess the literary faculty and the powers of trained 

 observation necessary for such a task, he can do his part 

 toward adding to our information by keeping careful 



