208 WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 



HOW TO SAVE THE SAGE GROUSE, AND OTHER 



GROUSE. 



In several of the states still inhabited by sage grouse, 

 that species unquestionably is in great danger of extinc- 

 tion in the very near future. In two or three states the 

 situation is not yet so desperate; and in those states it is 

 probable that a proposal for a 4 or 6-year close season would 

 be opposed on the ground that it is not necessary — at pres- 

 ent. A few sportsmen prefer to wait until the last day, at 

 sunset, before giving a long close season to a vanishing 

 species. 



Invariably, whatever mistakes have been made by Ameri- 

 can law-makers regarding game, the errors have been in 

 favor of the killers, and against the game! Few states ever 

 have given game birds and mammals full and ample meas- 

 ures of protection, and done it generously and joyously. As 

 a rule it is done grudgingly, in response to troublesome ap- 

 peals, and the general demand is that the margin of safety 

 for the game shall be whittled down to an irreducible 

 minimum. 



I presume that it will be so with the western states, and 

 all the grouse, until the last grouse is dead. Be that as it 

 may, the least that we can do and will do is to propose and 

 urge adequate measures for the preservation of all the 

 grouse, and of grouse shooting, regardless of the prospect 

 of their defeat. To us, the duty of the various states is as 

 clear as the sun at noonday in midsummer, and there is no 

 decent chance for evasion. 



Of the eleven far-western states that still contain rem- 

 nants of sage grouse, two only — Nevada and Oregon — even 

 SEEM to have a number sufficient possibly to justify a brief 

 continuation of shooting. California is believed by Dr. 

 Joseph Grinnell to have enough of the birds to constitute 

 a continuous supply, and warrant a continuation of hunt- 

 ing. But even regarding California, we have doubts. The 

 total sage grouse area in that great state is mighty narrow 

 and small, and unless the birds are decidedly abundant 



