310 GAME PRESERVATION 



do business with you i will sent you som eggs, how 

 long can you Handel Birds privetly mr send priCes 

 onCe a weak is anuf.' The game chiefly preserved in 

 the old States are black-tailed deer, Virginian deer, 

 wild duck, and other fowl, Californian quail, sage hens, 

 and ruffed grouse. Bears and foxes benefit by the 

 close season extended to game. Westwards the big game 

 of the Rocky Mountains, wapiti (or 4 elk '), wild-sheep, 

 wild-goats, and winged game are also protected in a 

 close season settled by the different States. Both Vir- 

 ginian deer and, in the State of Maine, the woodland 

 cariboo and other deer have much increased of recent 

 years. The latest development of this democratic game 

 preserving is the introduction of the English pheasant. 

 Private persons began and succeeded in the experiments ; 

 but now certain States have taken to pheasant pre- 

 serving ; the first sets of eggs and subsequent broods 

 have been reared in State pheasantries and protected by 

 rigorous laws for a period of five years. 



The whole movement is a curious illustration of the 

 intense Anglo-Saxon love of sport, and of the sense of 

 fair play due to game which marks the distinction 

 between sport and the commercial killing of game. It 

 would not be possible in a country which did not, as 

 the United States, abound in wild ' unimproved ' land, 

 forests, and swampy rivers. In time, as the population 

 grows, the game must diminish in spite of State pro- 



