140 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXVI 



which are now on the heads of many animals in 

 the shape of excessive prices for their pelts. 



The recreative value of wild life is harder to 

 place a value upon. Recreation is now recog- 

 nized as an important factor in keeping up human 

 efficiency, and who can estimate the influence of 

 wild life in remote parks and mountains as an 

 attraction to draw men out into the open. 

 Whether one be sportsman or photographer, or 

 just plain citizen, the presence of wild bird or 

 animal life adds zest to his enjoyment of the 

 scenery, and the same principle applies to the 

 shortest suburban or country ramble. 



One of the saddest features of the history of 

 wild life duriaig recent years has been the dis- 

 appearance of a number of animals and birds 

 that were formerly abundant, for they are re- 

 sources which are beyond the power of man to 

 replace. Destroyed forests may be replanted and 

 ravaged cities rebuilt, but a vanished mammal or 

 bird is gone forever. To the biologist, every 

 species wiped out represents the end of a long line 

 of ancestry running back far into the past before 

 man with his destructive arms appeared on the 

 scene. 



The main axiom of wild life protection is that a 

 species of animal must not be destroyed at a 

 greater rate than it can increase. The remedy for 

 thoughtless destruction is education, supple- 

 mented necessarily by legislation. Birds which 

 have recently become extinct in Canada are the 

 Passenger Pigeon, Great Auk, Labrador Duck, 

 and ("perhaps) Eskimo Curlew. Various adverse 

 factors have entered into the wild life problem, 

 the chief ofwhich at all times is the market hunter. 

 While acknowledging that much has been done 

 in Canada towards protection. Dr. Hewitt does 

 not fail to remind us that the sale of game is still 

 permitted in certain provinces. Compared with 

 the rapacity of men the destruction of our wild 

 life by natural factors is slight although it must 

 be considered. 



For a long time, naturalists, sportsmen, game 

 conservationists, and the general public who are 

 interested in the wild life of Canada have desired 

 to have in one volume an up-to-date account of 

 the present status of the wild life of the country 

 and a survey of the measures which have to be 

 achieved in the preservation of this great heritage. 



The late Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt was admirably 

 fitted for this task. English by birth, a thorough 

 zoologist by training as student and faculty mem- 

 ber of Manchester University, of a cosmopolitan 

 and open mind, he attacked problems without 

 prejudice. Trained technically as an entomolo- 

 gist, he early appreciated the value of birds as 

 insect destroyers and before leaving England he 

 had done much to demonstrate publicly Uie truth 

 of his theories. Coming to Canada in 1909 as 

 Dominion Entomologist, he speedily built up the 

 E^ntomological Branch to a state of recognized 

 efficiency. But while recognizing the value of 

 entomology. Dr. Hewitt had talents which led 

 him farther afield, and the position of Consulting 

 Zoologist was created for him in addition to his 

 other duties. His acquaintance with the men and 



the needs of all parts of the Dominion, begun on 

 his frequent -visits of inspection to every province, 

 grew with years, and his excellent judgment of 

 men and affairs was brought into excellent service. 

 His standing had always been commanding in 

 scientific circles, and as he realized that the con- 

 servation of wild life as a present and future asset 

 of the country was not a question of party politics, 

 his opinions were respected by statesmen and 

 politicians of all parties in the different provinces, 

 where the keenness of his observations, his obvious 

 sincerity of motive, and the clarity of his common 

 sense made his influence of supreme importance 

 in bringing the lagging sentiment of the country 

 into line with the principles of the now famous 

 Migratory Birds Treaty consummated between 

 Great Britain and the United States in 1916. 



This much-discussed treaty has already accom- 

 plished more than its sponsors imagined in increas- 

 ing the numbers of wild fowl which were being 

 harried through lack of international co-operation 

 in the preservation of an international asset, by 

 winter market-hunting in the South, spring- 

 shooting in the central states and the Canadian 

 provinces, and lack of protection on the northern 

 nesting grounds. 



Dr. Hewitt was also active in framing the Regu- 

 lations for the enforcement of the Migratory 

 Birds Treaty and a little later was active in draft- 

 ing the new North West Game Act, a far-reaching 

 measure to protect the wild game and fur-bearing 

 animals of the vast North West Territories and 

 the future interests of the natives and settlers 

 beyond the borders of what are now the settled 

 parts of Canada. 



Dr. Hewitt had unrivalled opportunities for 

 obtaining fresh information. A frequent visitor 

 at all the provincial capitals and the experimental 

 farms in all parts of the Dominion, he had the 

 friendship of men of affairs, scientific men, and 

 local naturalists and observers, so that when 

 disputed points came up he could marshal his 

 information at first-hand, and in this book we 

 have the cream of his data assembled systemati- 

 cally. His disarming candour and the absolute 

 fairness of his treatment of colleagues and as- 

 sociates procured him sympathy and support for 

 any plans which he brought forth. The book was 

 adapted to fill a long-felt want and demand and 

 represented a labour of love on the part of Dr. 

 Hewitt during the spare hours of the last three or 

 four years of his life, being completed and made 

 ready for the printer only in the month before his 

 death. Written in a beautifully pure and idio- 

 matic English style, the book appeals from a 

 literary as well as a scientific and educational 

 viewpoint, and the publishers have done their 

 part in bringing out the book in an attractive 

 form. No one could have done the work better, 

 and, coming when it did, it may fittingly be con- 

 sidered as a monument to Dr. Hewitt's accomplish- 

 ments in what he would have wished to consider 

 his most important life work. — R.M.A. 



