-^ Sport and Nature in Germany 



Asia and other countries, though these are quite harmless 

 to man. But in our Fatherland a completely organised 

 '' poison business " has grown up, which is a very serious 

 matter. 



I should like also to advocate strongly the legal pro- 

 hibition of the use of pole-traps, to which all our owls 

 and birds of prey fall victims. 



If we go on as we are going, the time cannot be far 

 distant when we shall have to strike out of the list of 

 the living several interesting members of our native 

 fauna. In North America, in recent times, the following 

 species, amongst others, have some of them become 

 extinct, others extremely scarce : the Californian grizzly 

 bear [Ursus horribilis calif ornicus), the San Joaquin 

 Valley elk, or wapiti {Cervus nannodes), Stone's reindeer 

 [Rangifer stonei), the prongbuck or pronghorn {Antilocapra 

 americana), the Pallas cormorant i^Phalacrocorax pei^spil- 

 licahts), the Labrador duck {Ca7nptolaimMS labr^adorius), 

 the ivory woodpecker {Campephihts principalis), the scotar 

 i^Aix sponsa), several other species of birds, and finally 

 the American woodcock. This last falls a victim chiefly 

 to professional hunters, who are accustomed to kill it by 

 hundreds in its winter quarters. 



" This list could perhaps be extended," Mr. R. 

 Rathbun, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute 

 (whose kindness I have to thank for this information), 

 adds at the end of his letter. 



His communications have also been of special interest 

 to me because they awoke In me old recollections. In 

 the Tortles of the past century my father received a letter 



1^7 



