i 



THE EXTERMINATION OF WILD LIFE 21 



last century ornithologists realized that this most useful and 

 highly esteemed of our American game birds was disappear- 

 ing, until in 1908 Preble stated: "It has become practically 

 exterminated, although formerly enormously abundant and 

 fairly common up to 1890." The market demand and the 

 tastes of the epicures have sealed its fate. Its abundance 

 proved to be its destruction. 



As with the birds so with our mammals, and in later chap- 

 ters the reduction of the buffalo and the antelope from mil- 

 Uons to a few thousands will be described. To-day the 

 caribou is undoubtedly in danger of a similar fate. And in 

 fact the same is true of any animal, be it bird or mammal: 

 so long as mere numbers are regarded as a reason for exces- 

 sive killing, just so surely will the extermination of an 

 animal follow. It should also be pointed out that when a 

 formerly abundant animal becomes reduced in numbers the 

 remnant may tend to herd together and thus give an im- 

 pression locally of great abundance. This danger exists in 

 the case of such a gregarious animal as the caribou. Local 

 abundance, therefore, should never be taken as an indica- 

 tion of general abundance and as a reason for permitting 

 killing in large numbers. 



It is therefore of the greatest importance to realize that 

 numerical abundance is no guarantee that an animal will 

 not be exterminated, unless its destruction is carefully regu- 

 lated and permitted to a very limited degree. The examples 

 given are surely sufficient proof of this fact, and should be 

 a serious warning to us in the conservation of the more 

 abundant species of mammals and birds. 



The Various Adverse Factors. — The greatest exterminator 

 of all wild life has always been the market hunter, caring 

 only for the largest and most immediate pecuniary returns 

 and utterly regardless of the future and of the rights of pos- 

 terity to enjoy the wild creatures, both furred and feathered, 



