PROHIBITION OF THE SALE OF GAME 95 



jj The moose once ranged over the whole of our north- 



Amang eastern woods. Now, Minnesota is the only state in 



Moose jjjg United States where there are enough moose to be 



killed, and there are not very many there. In the state of Maine, 

 which has had perhaps the most thorough and best enforced game laws 

 with regard to moose of iany of our states, a close season was put 

 in effect last year, for the simple reason that there are too many 

 hunters. Along the southern frontier of Canada where the country 

 is brought under development, and where the moose once roamed 

 in thousands, you will now seldom find enough moose to make it worth 

 while to hunt them. It is worth while in New Brunswick, because 

 there they have been thoroughly protected. They are scarce even in 

 many outlying districts as, for instance, the Peace River valley, until 

 recently regarded as remote but now thrown open to settlement. In 

 1912, the Beaver Indians were half starved, because they could not get 

 enough meat to keep them alive, and one band of Indians travelled 150 

 miles up on the Liard river to hunt moose. Yet Rod and Gun in 

 Canada printed a communication entitled, " Game in the Peace River 

 Country Unlimited," which drew a glowing picture of moose, deer 

 and antelope roaming the woods in countless numbers. Where did the 

 writer ever see an antelope roaming the woods ? It shows that people 

 do not realize the peril confronting our animals. 



Scattered ^^^' ^^^'^^ °'^'^^ ranged the eastern portion of the con- 



Remnants tinent, are making their last stand in the Yellowstone 



of Elk park and are surviving there simply because they are 



fed hay in the winter time. They used to range in considerable num- 

 bers in Canada, but they are now practically gone, only a few scat- 

 tered remnants being left. 



p ., . You have already heard something about the caribou. 



Precarious It is gone in the United States*; there are a few 



^*^** of them left in New Brunswick, more in New- 



foundland, and, in the great barren-lands country, there are still 

 large numbers of them, but even there they are threatened with 

 extinction. Last season I was in the mountains of British Col- 

 umbia, one of the particular objects of my trip being to 

 get some specimens of the mountain caribou for the United 

 States National Museum. We travelled six weeks before we 



*A few individuals were recently reported in Maine, having probably- 

 strayed over from New Brunswick; but such sporadic appearances, if authen- 

 tic, only serve to emphasize the disappearance of the animal from regions 

 where it once abounded. 



