A CENTURY OF EXTERMINATION 



It seems quite probable that this 

 nineteenth century may be unpleasantly 

 memorable in centuries to come as that 

 in which many species of animate and 

 inanimate nature became extinct. It has 

 witnessed the extinction of the great 

 auk, so utterly swept off the face of the 

 earth that the skin, or even the egg of 

 one, is a small fortune to the possessor. 

 Reduced from the hundreds of thousands 

 of twenty-five years ago to the few hun- 

 dred of to-day, it needs but a few years 

 to compass the complete annihilation of 

 the bison. It is not improbable that the 

 elk and the antelope will be overtaken 

 by almost as swift a fate. The skin 

 hunters, and the game butchers miscalled 

 sportsmen, are making almost as speedy 

 way with them as they have with the 

 buffalo. 



The common deer, hedged within 

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