THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIEE 



65 



The following extract from the Field of February 11, 1905, on 

 v*ame Protection in Cape Colony is of interest : 



' Game Protection in Cape Colony. 

 ' It is characteristic of the English race that many projects of far- 

 reaching public utility that in any other country would 'be directed 

 h y the State alone are preferably left to private initiative and 

 enterprise, and such is the self-reliance and sense of responsibility 

 Which this policy has cultivated in the individual that much of the 

 work thus undertaken is more efficiently performed than it would 

 he by any Government officials. The conservation of the larger and 

 more useful fauna of our South African possessions has thus been 

 assumed so far as a large part of Cape Colony is concerned, by 

 the Western Districts' Game and Trout Protection Association, 

 and the necessity for the activity of some influential body in this 

 direction is apparent when we consider the alarming diminution 

 Of many of these wild animals, amounting in at least one case to 

 total extinction. 



' During the past year the close seasons which the Cape Govern- 

 ment instituted in consultation with the association have been 

 Maintained in their integrity, although in a few cases local 

 authorities have pressed for a revision. The principle upon which 

 these were determined was that of grouping various districts 

 together according to the breeding seasons of the animals existing 

 'here, and this arrangement has been found to work so well that 

 l * IS not thought desirable to depart from it. The dates vary some- 

 what with the different localities, but on the whole the association 

 is satisfied that at present nothing is to be gained by any altera- 

 tion. A special permit to shoot any of the protected varieties of 

 hig game must be obtained from the Government, in addition to 

 the ordinary game licence, and application must be made to the 

 Under-Secretary for Agriculture through the resident magistrate 

 oi the division in which the game is to be found. The large 

 |''act of country in Bushmanland division of Namaqualand is 

 8 *ill maintained as a game preserve, within which the pursuit of 

 an y species of game whatever is prohibited. 



. ' The _ approximate enumeration of the varieties of big game 

 existing in the different districts was revised in 1904, and these 

 estimates are regarded as affording such useful and necessary 

 information that the Government has determined that in future 

 greater efforts to ensure their accuracy shall be made. The census 



