DEPLETION OF WILD LIFE 303 



from the fact that after much of the game had been 

 killed the remainder was crowded off and none was 

 left to reproduce its kind." 



It will be seen that, necessarily, hunting was 

 established as the custom of the young nation. 

 There was no question of ethics then as now. Then, 

 people sought their grouse in the brush or their veni- 

 son in the woods as now we seek our poultry and 

 beef in the market. Hunting for sport and hunting 

 for food travelled hand in hand and even to-day 

 game has its important food value. No doubt the 

 issue of life and death hanging on success added a 

 tang to hunting in those days of need for meat as it 

 does in these days of sport. The triumph of con- 

 quest over so wild a creature and its extreme beauty 

 still warm in the final defeat of death were, then as 

 now, unconscious elements in the reward of skill. 

 Pursuit of the anise seed bag with horse and hounds 

 in these pallid days appears poor sport to others be- 

 sides those who follow the fox himself. There must 

 be a brace or a brush, at least, to show for the day's 

 triumph. 



There is probably little difference in the spirit 

 of the sportsman of those days and these. No doubt 

 he enjoyed the wilderness and its denizens, some 

 of which he hunted, then as much as now, but per- 

 haps on the average not so consciously, and not so 

 appreciatively. Then it was the environment of his 

 daily life. To-day he is the most ardent of our con- 

 servationists for other reasons also than the continu- 



