Page 218 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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196 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
carriedoninsecretways. Butitisasfar-reachingandinsidiousasany; and when we add to the actual number of birds slain, the compound inter- est of eggs grown cold, of young birds perishing slowly from hunger, of the thousands upon thousands of birds which fall wounded or dead among the thick tropical jungle foliage and are lost, the total is one of ghastly proportions.
Not to weaken my argument with too many general statements, let me take at once some concrete cases. First, that of the Himalayan pheasants and game-birds. In a recent interesting article by E. P. Stebbing* the past, present and hoped-for future of game birds and animalsinIndiaisreviewed. Unfortunately,however,mostofthefinest creatures in Asia live beyond the border of the British sphere of influence, and though within sight, are absolutely beyond reach of civilized law. The heart of the Himalayas,—the haunts of some of the most beautiful birds in the world, the tragopans, the blood and impeyan pheasants lies within the limits of Nepal, a little country which time and time again has bade defiance to British attacks, and still maintains its independence. From its northern border Mt. Everest looks down from its most exalted of all earthly summits and sees valley after valley depleted of first one birdandthenanother. IhaveseenandlivedwithNepaleseshepherds who have nothing to do month after month but watch their flocks. In the lofty solitudes time hangs heavy on their hands, and with true oriental patience they weave loop after loop of yak-hair snares, and then set them, not in dozens or scores, but in hundreds and thousands up and down the valleys.
In one locality seven great valleys had been completely cleared of pheasants, only a single pair of tragopans remaining; and from one of these little brown men I took two hundred nooses which had been pre- pared for these lone survivors. In these cases, the birds were either cooked and eaten at once, or sold to some passing shepherd or lama for a fewannas. Butinotherpartsofthisunknownlandsystematiccollect- ing of skins goes on, for bale after bale of impeyan and red argus (tra- gopan) pheasant skins goes down to the Calcutta wharves, where its infamous contents, though known, are safe from seizure under the Nepal Raja's seal! Thus it is that the London feather sales still list these among the most splendid of all living birds. And shame upon shame, when we read of 80 impeyan skins "dull," or "slightly defective," we knowthatthesearefemalebirds. Then,ifever,werealizethatthetime of the bird and the beast is passing, the acme of evolution for these wonderful beings is reached, and at most we can preserve only a small fragment of them.
To the millinery hunter, what the egret is to America, and the bird of paradise to New Guinea, the impeyan pheasant is to India—the most covetedofallplumages. Thereisagreattendencytoblamethenative hunter for the decrease of this and other pheasants, and from what I have personally seen in many parts of the Himalayas there is no question that
*"Game Sanctuaries and Game Protection in India," Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1912. pp. 23-35.