THE Wir.D FAUNA OF THE EMPIRE 57 



matter fully before the public, and the result is awaited with much 

 interest. The Natural History Society of Victoria promptly in- 

 dorsed the idea, and reconnnended its adoption by the Government. 

 At a recent meeting of the sportsmen of Victoria the basic prin- 

 ciple of the proposition — the necessity for the establishment of 

 game and forest reserves — was fully conceded, and the only ques- 

 tion in the matter was declared to be of the best locations and 

 boundaries. The recommendation of ' Goat Mountain Park ' has 

 been referred by the Government to the Provincial Game Warden, 

 Mr. A. B. Wilhams, for examination and report. Possibly the 

 approval of a definite site will be held in abeyance until Mr. Williams 

 can have time to go over the ground in person, in which case a final 

 report cannot be expected before next autunm. 



The game reserve proposed by Mr. Phillips and the writer as 

 Goat Mountain Park is shown on the accompanying map. It is 

 about fifteen miles wide from east to west, by thirty miles long, and 

 embraces the region between the Elk and Bull Eivers from Wilson's 

 Creek to Monro Lake and beyond. It contains the breeding- 

 grounds and the summer and winter feeding-grounds of the moun- 

 tain goat, sheep, elk, and mule deer, and a great variety of scenic 

 wonders. It contains no coal deposits, no agricultural lands, very 

 little timber of commercial value, and at this date — thanks to the 

 efforts of Mr. Phillips and his guides — it is absolutely unspoiled. 

 So little shooting has been done within this area that the mountain 

 goats do not yet know the meaning of the report of a rifle. The 

 country is so easily accessible from the railway, vid Michel, Fort 

 Steele and Fernie, that even women and children can ride into the 

 heart of it and enjoy it. For camera enthusiasts it is a paradise, 

 no less. But the area is so small that a very few vigorous hunting 

 parties could easily ruin it for ever, so far as its wild life is con- 

 cerned, and for this reason immediate action is urged. 



As usual, however, in all matters affecting real estate, a note 

 of discord is heard. In view of the practical certainty that the 

 Government will in the near future take action on the plan now 

 before it, and possibly favourable action, a few persons are advo- 

 cating the creation of a substitute game and forest reserve wholly 

 to the north of that proposed by Mr. Phillips and the writer, and 

 reaching up to the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

 With_ a degree of indifference to their own interests that would be 

 amusing were it not so serious, the influence of the people of Fernie 

 — of all places in the world — is being exerted in behalf of the 

 selection of a farthest-north site. Just why any sane persons in 

 Fernie, the natural outfitting point for Goat Mountain Park, should 

 desire to have the southern boundary of the reserve moved thirty 

 miles farther away from them, is a mystery which remains to be 

 explained. Surely the Stoney Indians of the North will owe the 

 Fernie Game Protective Association a vote of thanks if the pro- 

 posed game reserve is finally located within easy reach of the 



