294 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



native wild fowl, and their establishment deserves encour- 

 agement. 



Civic Game Reserves.— There is a t3T)e of wild-life reserve 

 that ought to be widely adopted in Canada, but which, so 

 far as I am aware, exists in one or two instances only and 

 on a limited scale. This is what I would call a civic reserve. 

 In a previous chapter the creation of community and civic 

 bird sanctuaries has been recommended. The effect of such 

 sanctuaries in the conservation of wild life in general would 

 naturally be somewhat limited in its scope. A civic wild- 

 life reserve, however, would include within its territory such 

 native mammals and birds as might occur in the region ad- 

 joining or within easy reach of the city owning it. As an 

 example, it may be mentioned that the creation of a national 

 or provincial park in the region adjoining the Gatineau 

 River, north of Ottawa, has been urged for a number of 

 years by individuals and local organizations, and this pro- 

 posal was included in the recommendations of the commis- 

 sion appointed (in 1913) to advise on the planning of the 

 city of Ottawa. Unfortunately, however, no steps have yet 

 been taken to carry out a]proposal that would furnish for the 

 adjoining cities an unsurpassed recreation area, in which all 

 the pleasures and benefits of life in the woods and hills would 

 be the means of enlarging the interests and sympathies of 

 thousands of our citizens who are strangers to so many of 

 the joys that they might share. 



The idea of such a park or reserve in the country rather 

 than within the city limits is by no means a new one. In 

 England, within a few miles of London, one of the most 

 thickly populated regions of the world, one may lose oneself 

 in Epping Forest, one of the finest forest areas in England, 

 where still may be found deer — not the semi-domesticated 

 kind — badgers, foxes, and other species of wild Ufe, un- 

 molested. The city of Glasgow has a country park at Loch 

 Argoil, and the city of Birmingham a park at the Lickey 



