Page 203 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

CHAPTER XVIII
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AFRICAN GAME
Thanks to the diHgence with which sportsmen and field naturaHsts have recorded their observations in the haunts of big game, it is not at all difficult to forecast the immediate future of the big game of the world. We may safely assume that all lands well suited to agriculture, mining and grazing will become populated by rifle-bearing men, with the usual result to the wild mammals and birds. At the same time, the game of the open mountains everywhere is thinly distributed and easily exter- minated. Ontheotherhand,theunconquerableforestjunglesofcertain portions of the tropics will hold their own, and shelter their four-footed inhabitants for centuries to come.
On the open mountains of the world and on the grazing lands most big gameisnowbeingkilledmuchfasterthanitbreeds. Thisisduetothe attacks of five times too many hunters, open seasons that are too long, and bag limits that are far too liberal. As an example, consider Africa Viewed in any way it may be taken, the bag limit in British East Africa isappallinglyhigh. Noticethisastoundingarrayofwildcreaturesthat each hunter may kill under a license costing only $2§o!
2 Buffalo
2 Rhinoceros
2 Hippopotamus 1 Eland
2 Grevy Zebra
20 Common Zebra
2 Fringe-eared Oryx 4 Beisa Antelope
4 Waterbuck
1 Sable Antelope
1 Roan Antelope
1 Greater Kudu
4 Lesser Kudu
10 Topi
20 Coke Hartebeest
2 Neumann HarteVjeest 4 Jackson Hartebeest 6 Hunter's Antelope
4 Thomas Kob
2 Bongo
4 Pallah
2 Sitatunga
3 Gnu
12 Grant Gazelle
4 Waller's Gazelle
10 Harvey's Duiker 10 Isaac's Duiker
10 Blue Duiker
10 Kirk's Dik-dik
10 Guenthcr's Dik-dik 10 Hinde's Dik-dik
10 Cavendish Dik-dik 10 Abyssinian Oribi
10 Haggard's Oribi
10 Kenya Oribi
10 vSuni
10 Klipspringer
10 Ward's Reedl)uck 10 Chanler's Reedbuck 10 Thompson Gazelle
10 Peters Gazelle
10 Soemmerring Gazelle 10 Bushbuck
10 Haywood Bushbuck
The grand total is a possible 300 large hoofed and horned animals representing 44 species! Add to this all the lions, leopards, cheetahs,