The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-02-16

| A book of great interest, especially
| to younger readers s(the writing being
/ in a style especially intended for juve-
| niles), is Good Hunting: In Pursuit
/ of Big Game in the West" by Theo-
| dore Roosevelt, which is published by
| the Harpers this week. 1t is descrip-
| tive of Mr.. Roosevelt's hunting and
| ranch life in his early days, and was
| written years before he ever dreamed
of being president. The stories have
| just been gathered together from Har-
per's Round Table in book form. He
| writes entertainingly of his expert
| ences and observations, and portions
| of the book are of interest to readers
1 of any age; as, for example, the part
| in which he discusses the effect upon
| wild animals of civilization encroach-
| ing upon their domain. 1.-THE big
wolves shrink back before the growth
of the thickly settled districts, and in
the eastern states they often tend to
disappear even from districts that are
| uninha bited. save by a few wilderness
hunters. They have thus disappeared
almost entirely from Maine, the Adj
irOndacks and The AlleghanieS, al
though here and there they are said
to be returning to their old haunts.
Their disappearance is rather mySter-
ious in some instances, for they are
certainly not all killed off. The black
bear is much more easily killed. yet
the black bear holds it's own in many
parts of the land from which the wolf
has vanished. No animal is quite so
by poison or rifle or hound. Yet, af-
ter a comparatively few have been
slain, the entire species will perhaps
vanish from certain localities. But
with all wild animals it is a notice.
able fact that a course of contact with
man continuing over many generations
of animal life causes a species so to
adapt itself to its new surroundings
that it ceases to diminish in mum bers.
When white men take up new coun-
try. the game, and especially the big
game, being entirely unused to contend
with the new foe, succumbs easily,
and is almost completely killed out. If
any individuals survive at all, however,
the succeeding generations are far
more difficult to exterminate than
were their ancestors, and they cling
much more tenaciously to their old
homes. The game to be found in old
and .long-settled countries is much
more wary and able to take care of
itself than the game of an untrodden
wilderness. It is a very difficult mat
ter to kill a Swiss chamois; but it is
very easy matter to kill a white goat
after a hunter has once penetrated
among the almost unknown peaks of
the mountains of British Columbia.
When the ranchmen first drove their
cattle to the Little Missouri they found
the deer tame and easy to kill. but the
deer of Maine and the Adfrondacks
test to the full the highest skill of the
hunter"
The success of Mr.. Hornaday's STIR
ring tales in his new book. Camp
Fires in the Canadian Rockies" has
exceeded all expectations. In the two
weeks preceding Christmas the demand
for the book was SO great that the
large edition which had been prepared
was entirely sold, and for several days. !
while second edition was on the
press, the book was unobtainable in
the bookstores even in New York, |
Pittsburg, Buffalo. Chicago, and Mill |
waukee Its reception by reviewers
generally throughout Great Britain has
been most enthusiastic. Mr.. Horna- |
day has received many letters from |
sportsmen wishing to hunt grizzly |
bear and goats in the Canadian Rock |
les, but the most unexpected incident |
concerns two small boys of East Or !
ange, N +. Their father received the |
volume as a Christmas gifte and read |
it aloud to the family. A few days
later the two boys were found in New