THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIBE 



23 



the section patrols the picquet line on horseback at frequent 

 intervals, and receives daily reports when not actually doing so 

 irom the police under his orders. Full monthly reports are 

 rendered to the warden from each section, and statements of 

 Unusual occurrences are sent in to him at once. 



Special patrols are sent into the interior of the Eeserves to 

 report on the game and arrest trespassers who may have got 

 through the line of police picquets. 



Oarnivora are destroyed at all times by the staff. The native 

 police trap under supervision, rewards on a regular scale being 

 paid for the various kinds of vermin killed by them. The police 

 are armed with spears only, guns not being allowed them, and 

 under no circumstances are they allowed to interfere with the game. 

 During the twelve months ending October 31, 1904, the total 

 of oarnivora destroyed in the Eeserves was 230, actually reported, 

 but the real total was probably a good deal in excess of this 

 (hons, 3 ; leopards, 7 ; cheetahs, 3 ; wild dogs, 29 ; hyffinas, 21 ; 

 Jackals and wild cats making up rest of total). During the war 

 and before it hyoenas and wild dogs had increased a good deal 

 beyond their proper proportion in regard to antelope, but this 

 inequality has now, to a great extent, been adjusted. 



In a Eeserve like this the increase of carn'ivora must be care- 

 fully watched. Of those I have mentioned, perhaps the most 

 destructive is the wild dog, and I do not remember that any writer 

 has adequately described its depredations. Having had somewhat 

 exceptional opportunities of observing this animal, I have appended 

 to this paper some notes on its life-history and habits, from 

 which it will be seen how important a bearing its multiplication 

 may have on the prosperity of the game. 



The maximum penalty for killing game within the Eeserves is 

 -tlOO, with the option of six months' imprisonment on each count. 

 Owing to the extent of the country, the thickness of the bush, and 

 the other difficulties inseparable from all wild regions, it naturally 

 takes unremitting vigilance in order to get the necessary evidence 

 to secure convictions in court ; especially is it difficult to prove 

 a case when it comes to one or two native constables being the 

 only evidence available against several white men. So far, "how- 

 ever, the results have, upon the whole, been eminently satisfactory, 

 and very little game has been killed since the inception of the 

 Game Eeserves, which fact is sufficiently demonstrated by the 

 wonderful manner in which the herds of game have lost their fear 

 of man in most parts of the Eeserves. 



Game Pkotection Outside Eesekves. 



About the same time as the Game Eeserves were inaugurated 

 a number of influential gentlemen in the Transvaal instituted a 

 Game Protection Society. This Society (of which Mr. E. F. Bourke, 

 member of the Legislative Assembly of Pretoria, is chairman) has 

 now branches in many of the principal towns and villages of the 



