The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-18

dered available for stock raising. The wolf and coyote were poisoned for the preservation of sheep. Following this necessary destruction there comes the | unnecessary but unavoidable loss | caused by the domestic animals which are brought by the newcomers, such | as the more or less complete extirpa- ton in certain parts of the country of rattlesnakes that followed the intro- duction of hogs. While the extermina- tion of rattlesnakes Is a consummation greatly to be desired, 1t is none the less @ case in point, Among some of the larger game whose extinction is threatened by the rifle of the sports man is the true zebra, now confined to a small area in South Africa. The gi- raffe is rapidly disappearing from the same cause. The same may be said of almost every variety of the large game ot North America. The only parrot of the United States, the Carolina paro- quet, will probably be extirpated in Florida, and the eastern pennated grouse is restricted to the island of Nantucket, although long ago laws were framed for the protection of the ''Heathen," as the compositor caused the bill to read.
 In western Kansas jack rabbits are | on the increase, owing to the fact that l the bounty on coyotes is two dollars, while the price of a rabbit scalp is only l five cents, a difference that has result ed in the rapid decrease of the rabbits I natural enemy, the coyote. Western Kansas, too, affords another excellent illustration of the direct influence of | population upon the increase or de-
 crease of the larger animals. Up to 1884 that region was very sparsely set tied. Antelope were comparatively abundant and mule deer were ire quently seen. During 1885 and 1886, under the impression that western Kansas was suitable for farming pur- poses, there came a tide of immigration from the east, and before the wave of | increasing population the mule deer disappeared entirely and the antelope became extremely rare. The country, l so far as farming was concerned, hay- ing been tried and found wanting, an ebb tide of emigration took place, and l as the farms were abandoned by man I their former occupants again took pos session. and by 1888 and 1890 antelopes l became not uncommon, while the mule deer appeared in localities where none had been seen for years.
 Here is a list compiled by Professor l Lucas of some of the animals which have recently become extinct or the l extirpation of which seems imminent, with descriptions of them and the mode of their extinction, based on papers and specimens among the collections of l the National Museum:
 The West Indian seal, the range of which was from the Bahamas to the Gulf of Campeache, is supposed to be very near extinction, This seal was l discovered in August 1494, when the f1otilla of Columbus was cruising I among the West India Islands The sailors then called them sea wolves. Few of these animals have recently been seen by naturalists, and it is diff ficult to tell just how few there are left. I Whether it has been doomed to de- struction or not is a. little uncertain, but no specimens have recently been seen. As far as food, climate and suit able breeding places are concerned, ev- erything Is favorable to it's existence, and 1t may in time fill up It's now deci- ! mated ranks The professor says, however. that, on the other hand, when a species has been reduced below a cer- tain point it seems, like a stone rolling down hill, to pursue it's downward course with continually accelerated speed until the bottom is reached and the species exists no more.
 The California sea elephants, the largest of the seals having a length of from twenty to twenty-two feet, are now very scarce, considering the for mer abundance of these animals on the California coast, and from the fact that very little is ever seen of them it is considered by naturalists that they are in a fair way to extermination. By 1860 sea elephants had become so scarce that their pursuit was no longer profitable, and from that time up to 1880 so few stra gglers were seen about the southern coast of California that the animal was currently regarded as extinct. In 1884 a schooner visited the southern coast of California in the in- terests of the United States National Museum and found none. It is there fore quite possible that the end of the California sea elephant has come. It is much to be deplored that these animals should have been exterminated, when they could so easily have been pre- served by sparing each year the young and few adults.
 The walrus is well known, but the ' wallus of the Atlantic and Pacific diff fer in many respects As the whale decreased in numbers the whaling men directed their attention more and more to the walrus and between 1870 and 1880 there were brought to market nearly two million gallons of oil and nearly four hundred pounds of walrus ivory. These amounts represent the destruction of about 100000 animals
 Although it is far inferior to elephant ivory, the demand for walrus tusks is nevertheless great; and while the price by the pound was In 1879 only 40 or 45 cents, it was in 1880 from s1 to s1.25
 and in 1883 from S4 to $4.50. The wal rus being stupid animal under favor able conditions, it is slaughtered in much the same manner as the buffalo was killed by the skin hunters. The Pacific walrus is in greater danger of extinction than the Atlantic walrus, owing to the fact that the range of the species is restricted, while its haunts