GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA. 27 



preserve the game of areas which, owing to their peculiarly 

 favourable climatic conditions for the European sportsman, were 

 threatened with extinction, the Local Governments in India were 

 very apathetic in the matter. Game Rules were in existence 

 for the Forest Reserves of the country, but they i-elated chiefly to 

 a close season, the latter in some cases only applicable to the 

 females, and tlie same was the case for the open countiy, where the 

 rules usually related to birds only. These regulations were, how- 

 ever, openly broken, and the penalties in existence were practically 

 rarely put into force, except by some exceptionally energetic 

 officer ; and even then an appeal was usually upheld and the 

 orders passed reversed. 



At length, however, the apathy that hung over this question 

 gave place to some show of interest, which was followed by 

 activity on the part of the Government of India, on whom it had 

 slowly dawned that there was perhaps some reason for the outcry, 

 increasing in intensity each year, that the game of the country 

 w^as doomed and that but a few years separated it from ex- 

 tinction. Local Administi'ations were addressed on the subject of 

 the Rules and Regulations in force in their Presidencies and 

 Provinces under the Forest and other Acts, and as to the steps 

 necessary to be taken to prevent the extinction of the several 

 heads of game, excluding carnivora. This led to many separate 

 enquiries being undertaken throughout the countiy, to a prolific 

 correspondence in the Pi'ess, of which desultory I'umblings are 

 still heard, and to many improvements being initiated in the 

 Shooting and Game Rules throughout India. I am aware that 

 I am laying myself open to serious attack in thus stating the 

 case, but it is maintained that any and every rule that is made 

 with the idea of jn'otecting the game of a country is a step in the 

 right direction, and therefore advantageous both to the sportsman 

 and the game itself, however hard it may seem to fall on a 

 particular body of individuals or a particidar individual. This 

 point will be referred to at some length later on, but I would 

 like to appeal here to the public spirit and fairness of all true 

 sportsmen to aid to the best of their abilities the present 

 endeavours of the Government of India in the direction of 

 arresting the destruction of AVild Animals. I feel sure that the 

 Government will approach this matter in a much firmer spirit if 

 they feel that they have behind them the good wishes of a solid 

 mass of sportsmen throughout the country. 



What is required is to fix the close seasons definitely, and the 

 Gov^ernment of India have now, as we shall see, proposed to 

 legislate to give power to fix a close season for difl!"erent kinds 

 of game. 



In a series of articles published in the * Indian Field ' between 

 the dates fith June, 1907, and August 1907, a writer thus 

 approaclied this question :— 



•' We presume that the Imperial Government, as proprietor of 

 all till' ;i-amein the country, is the most important ]iartv concerned 



