INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY EFFORT 297 



whether they are called game-protection associations or 

 wild-life-conservation associations is immaterial, so long as 

 their objects are those that this volume is endeavouring to 

 promote, namely, the conservation of our wild-life resources 

 for the benefit of Canadians of to-day and of the future. 



The Attitude of the Sportsman 



The term "sportsman" has a very definite meaning in the 

 English language, owing to the fact that the predominant 

 characteristic of British sport is "fair play," and any person 

 who takes an unfair advantage of opponent or hunted quarry 

 is ruled out. It is in such a sense that the word should 

 always be used. When applied to the hunting of game the 

 word has a special significance in so far as the conservation 

 of game is concerned, and for that reason it is appropriate 

 that it should be discussed here. 



One of the most noted associations of hunters in the world 

 is the Shikar* Club of London, of which His Majesty, King 

 George, himself a famous sportsman, is honorary president, 

 and which includes in its membership the most noted himt- 

 ers of big game. Its chief object is set forth in the follow- 

 ing words : 



To maintain the standard of sportsmanship. It is not squandered 

 bullets and big bags which appeal to us. The test is rather in a love of 

 forest, mountain and desert; in acquired knowledge of the habits of ani- 

 mals; in the strenuous pursuit of a wary and dangerous quarry; in the 

 instinct for a well-devised approach to a fair shooting distance; and in 

 the patient retrieve of a wounded animal. 



Such should be the ethics of all who hunt game in Canada; 

 sportsmen's organizations should require their members to 

 subscribe to this definition of the objects of the hunter. 



In 1908, Doctor W. T. Hornaday, than whom no man has 

 done more to promote the conservation of our wild life and 



* Shikar is the Hindustani word for "hunting." 



