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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 
