in captivity, even for one
year, and the absence of cash value in the skins, even for museum
purposes, has left nothing of value in the animals to justify an
expedition to kill or to capture them. No zoological garden or park
desires any of them, at any price. Adult males attain a length of
sixteen feet, and females eleven feet. Formerly this species was
abundant in San Christobal Bay, Lower California.

At present, Mexico is in no frame of mind to provide real protection to
a small colony of seals of no commercial value, 175 miles from her
mainland, on an uninhabited island. It is wildly improbable that those
seals will be permitted to live. It is a safe prediction that our next
news of the elephant seals of Guadalupe will tell of the total
extinction of those last 140 survivors of the species.

THE CALIFORNIA GRIZZLY BEAR, (_Ursus horribilis californicus_).--No one
protects grizzly bears, except in the Yellowstone Park and other game
preserves. For obvious reasons, it is impossible to say whether any
individuals of this huge species now remain alive, or how long it will
be until the last one falls before a .405 Winchester engine of
extermination. We know that a living specimen can not be procured with
money, and we believe that "Old Monarch" now in Golden Gate Park, San
Francisco, is the last specimen of his species that ever will be
exhibited alive.

I can think of no reason, save general Californian apathy, why the
extinction of this huge and remarkable animal was not prevented by law.
The sunset grizzly (on a railroad track) is the advertising emblem of
the Golden State, and surely the state should take sufficient interest
in the species to prevent its total extermination.

But it will not. California is hell-bent on exterminating a long list of
her wild-life species, and it is very doubtful whether the masses can be
reached and aroused in time to stop it. Name some of the species?
Certainly; with all the pleasure in life: The band-tailed pigeon, the
white-tailed kite, the sharp-tailed grouse, the sage grouse, the
mountain sheep, prong-horned antelope, California mule deer, and ducks
and geese too numerous to mention.

* * * * *

CHAPTER V

THE EXTERMINATION OF SPECIES, STATE BY STATE

Early in 1912 I addressed to about 250 persons throughout the United
States, three questions, as follows:

1. What species of birds have become totally extinct in your state?

2. Wha