30 MR. E. P. STEBBING OX 



question became most vital in the more uncivilized, uninhabited, 

 and wilder portions of the globe. Such shooting grounds were 

 open to one and all, just as for centuries the shooting in India had 

 been open, with the result that the modern rifle soon threatened 

 the extinction of all game. That modern conditions have i-endered 

 this quite feasible the two well-known and oft-quoted instances 

 afforded by the practically extinct American bison and the 

 extinct quagga of South Africa suificiently illustrate. 



In India we have come within measurable distance of exter- 

 minating the rhinoceros {Rhinoceros unicornis), which, together 

 with the elephant and the gaur or Indian bison {Bos gaurios), 

 would without protection probably soon disappear from the 

 jungles which have known them for so long. 



It may be mentioned here, in passing, that Indian ruminants, 

 such as the gaur, sambhar, etc., and the elephant, have always 

 had to contend against a sickness resembling anthrax, and also 

 against drought, which at times have decimated their numbers 

 over large tracts of country. 



With a view to affording a certain protection to animals 

 of this kind and of giving a rest to species which have been 

 heavily thinned in a district by indiscriminate shooting in 

 the past or by anthrax, drought, etc., the idea of the Game 

 Sanctuary was introduced into India (and in other parts of the 

 world) and has been accepted in many parts of the country. The 

 sanctuary consists of a block of country, either of forest or grass- 

 land, etc., depending upon the nature of the animal to which 

 sanctuary is required to be given ; the area has rough boundaries 

 such as roads, fire lines, nullahs, etc., assigned to it, and no 

 shooting of any kind is allowed in it if it is a sanctuary pure 

 and simple; or the shooting of carnivora may be permitted, or of 

 these latter and of everything else save certain specified animals. 



Sanctuaries may be formed in two ways : — 



I. The area is aittomatically closed and re-opened for certain 

 definite periods of years. 



II. The area is closed tcntil the head of game has become 

 satisfactory, and the sjiooting on the area is then regulated, no 

 further closing taking place, save for exceptional circumstances. 



I. The Sanctu,ary is automatically closed and re-opened for a 

 definite period of years. — The Sanctuary is notified for a period of 

 vears : this period would naturally be variable, but it is of import- 

 ance, I think, that it should not be placed a,t too great a length, or the 

 animals in the sanctuary, so long immune from danger, would on 

 the re-opening of the area be so unused to the sportsman that 

 they would be shot down in a very short space of time. Probably 

 the period during which a block of forest is closed to all shooting 

 should never exceed, at the most, three years. That good sportsman 

 Sir John Hewett considers that a period of five years for a sanctuary 

 is too long. He thinks that the ground of the sanctuary should 

 be changed eveiy two or three years, probably the former, and 



