GAME PRESERVE. A park stocked with game, or a tract of country, sometimes inclosed, and set apart for the protection of game. At the beginning of the Middle Ages the rulers of Euro pean countries maintained their own hunting grounds or forests, a fashion which was soon fol lowed by the landed nobility, and out of which grew up the present system, by which the right of hunting and the ownership of game is vested in the ownership of the land. (See GAME LAWS.) Austria-Hungary and Germany contain many `hunting estates,' as also did France before the Revolution; and game of every description is plentiful. In none of these countries, however, is the preservation of game so much a concern of the National Government as of the individual proprietor. In the British Isles game preserving has attained a high degree of development; but, as in Continental Europe, it is due to the indi vidual land-owner rather than to the Govern ment, and the impelling factor is a selfish rather than a patriotic motive.
In England and Scotland the old method of shooting birds over dogs has been largely super seded by 'driving.' Instead of hunting the game, the sportsmen or 'guns' take up previously ap pointed positions, and the 'beaters' or game-keep ers drive the game in front of the gunners. Vast sums are annually expended in breeding the dif ferent varieties of game; but as they are practi cally raised in captivity, they are as a rule heavy on the wing, and lacking in the character istics most desired by the keen hunter. Within recent times fresh-water fish have come under Government protection, local as well as national.
In Ireland the impoverished condition of the great majority of the land-owners has prevented the stocking and breeding of game to any great extent; nevertheless there are several estates in the midlands, south, and west, where game is carefully preserved for sporting purposes.
Scotland possesses the largest single areas set apart for shooting and hunting in the United Kingdom, the preserve of the Duke of Sutherland ranking as one of the largest in the world. The vast tracts set apart for these purposes have be come a very real grievance to the Scottish people. Grouse, deer, and salmon are especially preserved in Scotland.
In the United States the subject of game pres ervation in its largest sense has become a matter of national legislation. Every effort is being made to preserve what is left of the bison, the Maine caribou, the bald eagle of the Rockies. and
the ibis and the flamingo of the extreme southern forests. Besides the numerous zoological gardens throughout the country, and the various Govern ment reservations, there are many estates owned by private individuals or by private clubs. One of the oldest of these latter is that founded by Fayette S. Giles in 1870, which covers 17.000 acres, and is known as the Grove Park Associa tion. The first real game preserve in America was that of Judge John Dean Caton, the author of The Deer and Antelope of America, who founded his preserve for the purpose of sport as well as for study. The Litchfield tracts at Tupper Lake, N. 'IC., and the Webb holdings at Nehasane, N. Y., and Shelburne, Vt., are also well-known game preserves. Corbin Park at New port, N. H., next to the Duke of Sutherland's es tate, is the largest inclosed game preserve in the world; the latter, however, exceeds it only in su perficial area, and not by any means in scope or importance. The Corbin tract consists of more than 25,000 inclosed acres, with additional land outside, and includes altogether nearly four entire townships. An important game fish preserve i& that of E. C. Benedict, in Connecticut, at the east end of Long Island Sound. The most im portant private game preserve in the United States is that of G. W. Vanderbilt at Biltmore, N. C., which covers 80,000 acres of diversified country, of which 6000 acres are inclosed and the remainder open. The preserve is eared for by an organized system of rangers, keepers, etc. Private game preserves are becoming plentiful in the Adirondaeks, but the interests of the general public are being cared for there as in other places throughout the country by the creation of Government reserves, both forest and game. See FORESTRY.
Canada has several big preserves, but through out eastern and central Quebec the best stretches of game country land and water are all owned by private individuals. A famous preserve is the great Caughnawaga tract, which is situated north of Deux Rivieres, on the Magnacippi River. The preserve of the Roberval Club, which has a mixed Canadian and United States membership of over 300, is in the heart of the Laurentian Mountains, and is a little over 500 square miles in extent. The most remarkable preserve is that belonging to Henri M6nier, consisting of the whole of Anti costi Island, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. See FISHING; HUNTING.