232 
JOUBNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
Doctor Homaday then discussed the efforts of the American Bison Society to 
save the remnants. Taking the case of the state of Wyoming, he stated that the 
governor of Wyoming had said that the antelope is being destroyed by the home- 
steaders who have gone in there — in some instances having been induced to go 
in when they should not have gone — • to locate on semi-arid lands ; that in trying 
to live without irrigation and without any resources what ever of their own, and 
being hard pressed for food, they are killing the antelope and every other wild 
animal that they can reach ; that there is no way of stopping it, there are so many 
of them that the state could not put in enough game wardens to prevent them 
from killing the animals. The governor is so thoroughly alarmed that he is 
now proposing a special state game preserve for the antelope. Doctor Homaday 
believes that the handicaps on the antelope and the handicaps on those who will 
try to save it are so numerous and so great that the antelope is doomed to go down 
and out in about twenty-five years. The trouble is, when the antelope seems to 
be doing the best, something comes along and, in a twinkling, all is changed for 
the worse. 
He stated that in far-distant countries, inhabited by savage tribes, it is now a 
lamentable fact that the natives are acquiring modern firearms. In India, forty 
years ago, the natives were not permitted by the Government to have firearms or 
to hunt with them. Now they have just as good breech-loading rifles as the 
English sportsmen, and they are using them very generally, and the English 
sportsmen say the game in India is being rapidly annihilated. 
Doctor Homaday continued as follows: ‘‘We must think in decades, quarter- 
centuries, half-centuries, and centuries. Geologic time is not for us. We are 
approaching the complete destruction of our wild life at express speed, and the 
rapidity with which the fauna and the best wild life of the world, that i s, the 
mammal life of the world, is being destroyed, is ground for the most gloomy fore- 
boding and confirmed pessimism. There are many far-sighted men and women 
who are doing their utmost to stem this tide of destruction and to save the de- 
pleted remnants for posterity. But what does it amount to? We may as well 
face these facts like men. We should not deceive ourselves. As a matter of fact, 
for every person who is putting forth active efforts to preserve the mammal life 
of the world, there are from one thousand to ten thousand, or even a hundred 
thousand destroyers. I have been devoting some thought recently to that sub- 
ject. In the state of New York we have figures available. I have figured it out 
that in New York state, for every person who is actively engaged in preserving 
th-Q mammal and bird life of the state, there are five hundred destroyers. In the 
West I think the number will be 1 to 1000; in Alaska I think it is about 1 to 2000; 
that is to say, for every person who is laboring to preserve the wild life, there are 
2000 destroyers. In Africa, what shall we say? I should imagine that for every 
person on the continent of Africa who is attempting actively to preserve wild life 
there are 100,000 persons destroying it. We know that the great game preserves 
that are being created and protected at such great expense by the nation, by the 
states, by private individuals, and by a few other countries, will do something 
toward preserving some of these species from total extinction.” 
Doctor Homaday stated that there are thoughtful men, of w'^hom Mr. Madison 
Grant is one, who believe now, and have believed for some years, that a time will 
soon come when there will be no big game remaining in the United States or on the 
