134 THE SHIKARI 



extinction is more or less rapidly taking place in 

 many countries, notably the republics of South America, 

 where, though in parts Game Laws have been granted, 

 they have never been actively enforced and are prac- 

 tically a dead-letter. 



In the settled districts this is partly due to the 

 utilitarian principles of the stock-raisers, who have 

 worked out to a fine point the exact carrying power 

 of their " camps," and this has meant the extermina- 

 tion of all grass-eating creatures to give place to a few 

 more head of sheep or cattle. 



Where deer, rhea, guanaco, etc., still exist on the 

 older stock farms, it will be found either to be due 

 to a part not being suited to stock-raising and thus 

 left in a wild state, or the owner having a personal 

 desire to see some of the original wild creatures still 

 roaming on his extensive property ; but unfortunately 

 these are in the minority. 



In this connection it behoves the beginner not to 

 let his name be handed down as one of the men who 

 helped to shoot out the big fauna, either through utter 

 wantonness or a fiendish desire to make a bag bigger 

 than any one else. There is no sport in that ; the 

 sport is in picking out the best heads and shooting 

 them alone, and if the whole country swarmed with 

 the same species and the desired number of trophies 

 had been secured they should be passed by — unless 

 meat is required, when further shooting would be fully 

 justified. 



