The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-21
THE FAUNA OF A CONTINENT
As AFFECTED BY CIVILIzA-
TON.
Some Types of Animals Already Exter-
minated and Others Likely to Fol-


low.
No more interesting study, for the
laymen or man of science, can be found
than the effect of civilization upon the
fauna of a continent. In America the
results hive been so marked and far
reaching that it is of more than ordina-
ny interest. Within comparatively few
years some types of animals. have been
almost exterminated; Others constitute
a passing show and without the most
stringent rules and regulations, they
will soon disappear
Among the most interesting birds on
the Pacific slope is the California vul-
-Pseudogrypus Callfornianus-
which we'll represents in North America
the great condor of the Andes, and eX-
ceeds it in stretch of wing, but not in
bulk I have seen this fine bird soaring
high. above the Sierras, and once sue
ceeded in creeping upon q specimen
which had come down into the lower
country and was in a grove of live oaks
at an altitude of about one thousand
feet, in the San Gabriel. / laid in the
cover for some little time watching this
great American vulture, which, with
head we'll up, it's big wings dropping,
presented a fine picture. / satisfied my
self with aiming at it, then came out OF
my concealment to drive it away,
knowing that the first pot hunter who
came along would bag it, as the bird
was in demand by the insatiate curiosi-
ty dealers, who have price on the
head of every bird. The great vulture
slowly moved away with ponderous
flight, and 1 watched it rise higher and
higher, in great circles, congratulating
myself ON having aided, in all probable
ity, in the preservation Of at least one
Individual A week later, however, L
learned that California vulture had
been shot in the same grove by
sportsman and brought to town. where
1t was sold to the highest bidder.
That the bird is destined to extinction
is evident from the fact that every coll
1ector or curiosity dealer has stand
ing offer for all the birds and eggs they
can get Thirty or forty years ago
these birds We're so common that it was
not unusual for the Mexic'ans to catch
them with lariat, roping them after
the valtures had gorged themselves with
VI.
South American condor which / found
very amenable to the tanning process.
AFTER some weeks it came to know me,
and would hold up it's head to be
scratched like a dog. The living Cali
fornia vulture that it was my good for
aune to see appeared to be quite as
heavy and powerful a bird, though
there is no doubt that the Andean form
is the superior in this respect. AS to
their strength, DR.. Cooper states that
four could drag the body of Dung griz-
Fly bear, weighing one hundred pounds,
a distance of six hundred feet. DR..
Newbury observed these birds in the
Sacramento valley in 1856, and refers to
their fine soaring powers; and DIR. can
field states that he has seen as many as
one hundred and fifty vultures around a
dead antelope in the Columbia river re-
gion Southern California to-day is I'M
doubtedly the principal retreat for the
great bird, which will be hunted in the
winter from peak to valley, and from
one live oak grove to another until they
too have Joined the majority.
The disappearance of this bird can be
traced to different causes; first, the pot
hunter, who goes forth to kill every
thing second, the collectors who sell
their game" from birds to vul-
lures, to curiosity dealers; third, poi
soned meat set for coyotes and bears,
and fourth, Mexican miners in Lower
California who, it is said, destroyed the
bird solely for their plumes in the hol-
low part of which they deposit gold
dust
Among the doomed animals are the
antelope and elk A few years ago the
plains of California were covered with
antelope. Even so late as fourteen
years ago hunters could find them in the
old dry lake bottoms in the vicinity of
Majave; and fifty years ago the great
San Joaquin valley supported many
bands But the advance of the white
man into the west has been fatal; they
have been shot down, driven away,
murdered in cold blood for their heads
alone, and to-day are on the verge of
extinction in California. AS to the ac
tual numbers in this state, H. w. KEEL
ler state fishery commissioner, wrote
me: "The only antelope I have seen or
heard of are in the following localities.
In the Mount Shasta foothills, about
forty miles east of Yreba, Siskiyou
county, IOuIlu dDUul oGNEIlS -llNt llceict
in small bands. running in the timber
entirely, something unusual for this an
imal There is also a small band in the
western end of Antelope valley, possibly
less than twenty in all. There may be
some in the counties bordering on the
Nevada line, but of this I am not sure.
do not think that there are five hun
dred antelopes in the state"
The elk are disappearing so rapidly,
despite the efforts on the part of the
government to save them, that it would
hardly be an exaggeration to say that
within twenty years there will not be
one left outside the limits of the nation
al preserves. Even this retreat is not
"a protection, and pot hunters and rene
gades haunt the borders, drive game
into the open country and slaughter it.
Elk In the territories and interior states
are hunted in the deep snow of winter,
made to "move on from post to pillar,
Fifty ears ago elk could be found plen-
tifu in California; and two hundred
years ago the animals ranged the state
and far into lower California and every
where over the great valleys, judging
by the antlers found How it is to-day
yo11 Writ a fO11nWGs