3 88 



The National Geographic Magazine 



while the blood-flecked coin of the mar- 

 ket hunter is to be regarded as the token 

 of sordidness? 



When fagged, overcivilized, not to say 

 overfed, man seeks the solitude of the 

 forest, he goes neither in search of food 

 nor from a barbaric desire to see gaping 

 wounds and a pitiful death struggle of 

 some mighty beast. The exhilaration 

 and the delightful freedom of the wilder- 

 ness, with an opportunity to pit man's 

 dexterity and resourcefulness against the 

 experience, strategy, and inherent cun- 

 ning of the hunted, accounts in these 

 later days for many an unnecessary 

 tragedy in the woods. 



A tithe of what one spends in time and 

 travel will supply the household with 

 flesh or fowl that is generally superior 

 to the game sought, or one can buy at 

 half the cost the skins or horns that later 

 may adorn the home as a result of the 

 hunting trip. 



Every decent sportsman who now 

 hunts big game in particular, and many 

 of those who seek a smaller quarry, are 

 moved by qualities directly opposed to 

 needless suffering or useless slaughter ; 

 and it is unfortunate that to many of 

 these the peep-sights of a rifle must con- 

 tinue to circumscribe their vision. Some 

 time it will be recognized that, when the 

 camp is abundantly supplied with wild 

 food, the camera, and the camera alone, 

 should be the means of further hunting; 

 for skill, not kill, is the motive, except in 

 the predaceous class, like the wolf, the 

 cougar, or the crow. 



THE CAMERA DISPLACING THE SPORTS- 

 MAN'S GUN 



From his accurate knowledge of wild 

 life and under the prestige and authority 

 of his high office, President Roosevelt 

 has done more to permanently conserve 

 the wild animals and birds of this coun- 

 try than any man now living. The set- 

 ting aside, under executive order, of a 

 great many game refuges and dozens of 

 islands as breeding places for wild fowl 

 and sea birds — on the coasts, on the 

 Great Lakes, and in the distant waters of 

 Hawaii — has led to remarkable results 

 and will save many a rare creature now 

 verging on extinction. Originally an 



intrepid pioneer, who only collected a 

 fair toll in a fair way from the hills and 

 plains near his western ranch, he has not 

 in the past 14 years killed a single harm- 

 less wild animal, confining his brief trips 

 to a' study of the fauna of the Yellow- 

 stone Park, or to participating in lively 

 chases after the wolf, the bear, the lynx, 

 or the cougar, whose destructiveness have 

 put them in the "predatory" class of 

 which we have heard so much of late. 



The President many years ago wrote 

 the following as an introductory to a book 

 of wild life illustrated with the camera: 



"I desire to express my sense of the 

 good which comes from such books, and 

 from the substitution of the camera for 

 the gun. The older I grow, the less I 

 care to shoot anything but 'varmints/ 

 * * * If we can only get the camera 

 in place of the gun and have sportsman 

 sunk somewhat in the naturalist and the 

 lover of wild things, the next generation 

 will see an immense change for the bet- 

 ter in the life of our woods and waters." 



And this is the man, who for many 

 years has killed no innocent thing, and 

 who, sportsman originally as he was, has 

 become the leader in the preservation of 

 wild life and in the advocacy of those 

 means for best studying and enjoying it, 

 that has been pointed out as one not now 

 in "sympathy" with present nature fak- 

 ers or their well-meaning but deluded 

 followers ! 



It 'is only in recent years that the quick 

 plate, rapid shutter and lens have made 

 possible successful hunting with the 

 camera, and even then it has required 

 time to show the extensive field, the fas- 

 cinating character of the pastime, and 

 the sentimental and practical features 

 involved in this method of studying and 

 picturing wild life. 



Although the writer was an ardent 

 hunter from early youth, and pursued in 

 the most relentless way those varieties 

 of birds and animals whose cunning and 

 whose conquest made them worthy of 

 the name of "game," it must not be as- 

 sumed that he, with the usual zeal of a 

 convert, now indiscriminately decries the 

 man with the gun ; for, under proper 

 conditions and in moderation the tenant 

 in the wilderness camp is entitled to his 



