Let the mammalogists of the world face this fact.  The available cover of the Indian rhinoceros is alarmingly decreasing, throughout Assam and Bengal where the behemoth of the jungle has a right to live.  It is believed that the few remaining rhinos are being shot much faster then they are breeding; and what will be the effect of this upon an animal that requires fourteen years to reach full maturity?  To-day, the most wonderful hoofed mammal of all Asia is booked for extermination, and unless very radical measures for its preservation are at once carried into effect, it is probable that twenty years more will see the last Indian rhino go down to rise no more.  One remedy would be a good, ample rhinoceros preserve; and another, the most absolute and permanent protection for the species, all along the line.  Half-way measures will not suffice.  It is time to ring in a general alarm.

During the past eighteen years, only three specimens of that species have come out of India for the zoological gardens and parks of the world, and I think there are only five in captivity, all told.

We are told that in India now the natives are permitted to have about all the firearms they can pay for.  Naturally, in a country containing over 300,000,000 people this is a deadly thing.  Of course there are shooting regulations, many of them; but their enforcement is so imperfect that it is said that the natives are attacking the big game on all sides, with deadly effect.  I fear it is utterly impossible for the Indian government to put enough wardens into the field to watch the doings of the grand army of native poachers.

Fortunately, the Indian native,—­unlike the western frontiersman,—­does not contend that he owns the big game, or that “all men are born free and equal.”  At the same time, he means to have his full share of it, to eat, and to sell in various forms for cash.  Even in India, the sale-of-game dragon has reared its head, and is to-day in need of being scotched with an iron hand.

When I received direct from a friend in the native state of Kashmir a long printed circular setting forth the hunting laws and game-protective measures of that very interesting principality, it gave me a shock.  It was disquieting to be thus assured that the big game of Kashmir has disappeared to such an extent that strong protective measures are necessary.  It was as if the Chief Eskimo of Etah had issued a strong proclamation for the saving of the musk-ox.

In Kashmir, the destruction of game has become so serious that a Game Preservation Department has been created, with the official staff that such an organization requires.  The game laws are printed annually, and any variations from them may be made only by the authority of the Maharajah himself.  Up to date, eight game preserves have been created, having a total area of about thee hundred square miles.  In addition to these, there are twelve small preserves, each having an area of from twenty-five to fifty square miles.  By their locations, these seem to provide for all the species of big game that are found in Kashmir,—­the ibex, two forms of markhor, the tahr.  Himalayan bighorn sheep, burrhel and goral.