Looking Backward 



only when man adds his intelligently * destruc- 

 tive hand that the balance of nature is disturbed 

 and races are swept out of existence without 

 new ones coming in to replace them. It is 

 safe to say that the past century has witnessed 

 greater changes in the plant and animal life 

 of North America than did the previous five 

 thousand years. 



The dying out of large animals has left our 

 continent as we now see it, or rather as it was 

 at the time of its discovery, for since the advent 

 of civilized man great changes have taken place. 

 Some of these changes were largely unavoid- 

 able, for, while the absolute extermination of 

 the bison was an act of wasteful and senseless 

 slaughter, the vast herds of this animal had to 

 be decimated to make room for herds of cattle. 



One point worthy of note is the small num- 

 ber of animals that are natives of this continent 

 and whose pedigree can be traced back, let us 

 say, even to Miocene times. Race after race of 

 animals has appeared, played its part, and then 

 passed utterly out of existence. The prongbuck 



* Intelligent in providing the means of destruction. 

 279 



