EXTINCTION OF CERTAIN MAMMALS 147 



bearers that some nations and most of the states of the United States 

 of America have enacted laws requiring licenses and otherwise regu- 

 lating trapping, and providing close seasons for certain species. One 

 Boston fur-buyer reported that in three years, 1918-1920, the offerings 

 of muskrat skins fell off 50 per cent per annum, while in Wisconsin 

 800,000 were marketed in 1917, 300,000 in 1918 and only 150,000 in 

 1919, though each year there was an increase of about 10 per cent in 

 the number of licensed trappers. 10 



Though hunting game animals for the market, which was one of 

 the principal causes of their wholesale destruction, has now been pro- 

 hibited in most states, that, of course, is impracticable in case of the 

 trapping of fur-bearers. In 1921 there were about 4,000,000 hunting 

 licenses issued in the United States. In addition, many men hunted 

 in isolated localities without licenses, and in some states boys beneath 

 a certain age and men hunting on their own land are not required to 

 procure licenses. 



The animals structurally so modified as to adapt them to a more or 

 less complete marine existence have been as vigorously persecuted, 

 chiefly for the oil they yield. In the American Antarctic, 5500 whales 

 were taken from one whaling station in a single season. They were 

 relentlessly pursued in all the seas for years until in most regions 

 they became so scarce that whaling was no longer profitable. As they 

 became scarce the whalers turned their attention more energetically to 

 the pursuit of other oil-yielding animals. The sea-elephant, once abun- 

 dant in some localities along the Pacific Coast of America, was soon 

 brought by hunters to the verge of extinction. The Arctic sea-cow, once 

 locally abundant but of very limited range in the Far Northwest, was 

 discovered in 1742, and about twenty-five years later, in 1767 or 1768, 

 the last one is said to have been killed. Sea-lions have been killed in 

 large numbers along the Pacific Coast, sometimes under bounty acts, 

 under the apparently mistaken notion that they are very destructive 

 to fish. The walrus, both European and American, has been destruc- 

 tively hunted for its oil and ivory. In Europe it soon became too scarce 

 for profitable hunting. In one rookery of Norway 600 were killed in 

 six hours. On the northwest coast of America the walrus was de- 

 pended upon by natives for food, while its skin was used in the con- 

 struction of boats and for other purposes, its blubber furnished them 

 with oil, and its ivory was found useful and later on salable. When 



10 Bailey, U. S. Dept. Agric. Circular No. 135, pp. 6-7, 1920. 



