ITALY 213 



farms. Not only is there a lack of control durino- the breedinq- season 

 on the part of the police, but the laws regulating exclusive shooting- 

 rights on one's own property vary in different parts of the country, 

 and are difficult to enforce, the more so as the authorities often give 

 way to the influence of political factions hostile to game preserves. 

 Consequently, sport of this kind is limited in Italy, while the shooting 

 of migratory birds is still producti\'e in many parts, as these fowl ha\'e 

 to pass o\'er the peninsula on their way to and from the warmer 

 climates that they have to seek at the appointed season. Xe\'erthe- 

 less, there are still wild and uncultivated, and almost inaccessible sj)ots 

 in Italy, on the slopes of the Alps and Apennines, 



amonq- the woods of the Tuscan Maremma, in the . ,, , 

 * of Italy. 



Pontine marshes and among the mountains of Sardinia, 



in which the sportsman can find big game, such as chamois, wild boar, 



deer and moufflon. The bear and wolf may be regarded as extinct. 



Naturally the finest and best stocked are the royal j:)reserves. 



Victor Emmanuel was passionately fond of shooting, and a first-class 



sportsman ; to him we owe the preservation of the ibex (Ital. Sfam- 



becco), for, if he had not made a reserve for it on both slopes of the 



Dora Baltea, consisting of the highest peaks of the Graian Alps, the 



species, that had already become very scarce, would have vanished 



altogether. The headquarters of the shooting is at the 



"Gran Paradiso," and the camps are at Valsavaranche, ^"^^ 



Preserved 

 Ceresole, and Cogne. These remain at a height of -^^ Italy. 



about 2,000 metres,* while the shooting extends to an 



altitude of 4,000. The haunt of the ibex is on the summit of the 



* i.e. rather over 6,000 feet. 



