Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Shooting and Fishing - 1. Shooting and Shooting Legislation. By A. Wahlgren
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
224
v. shooting and fishing.
numbers of small animals ancl birds of prey are stated to have been killed
in 1912: Foxes 16 706; martens 121; otters 34; badgers 5 049; seal-dogs
7 274; eagles 201; great owls 438; hawks 14 027; crows 253 913.
If we make a survey of the stock of useful game in the country, we
find that the elk occurs more or less frequently in most of the
provinces from the north of Skåne up to Norrbotten and seems to show a
tendency to spread even to the territories where it is not at present generally
found. Among the other cervidæ, the unlet reindeer, formerly numerous
in the mountain districts, has almost entirely disappeared from, the fauna
of the country. The red-deer occurs only within a very restricted area in
the south of Skåne. The fallow-deer is kept principally within fenced
deer-parks, although exceptionally it occurs in i wild state in some parts
of the last-mentioned provinces; the roe-deer is rather numerous in the
southern parts of the country and shows a tendency to spread northward.
Among other mammals, the hare is the animal most generally shot. Over
a great part of the country it is hunted with harriers, and this manner
of hunting ought, possibly, to be regarded as the most national and the
most typical for the country. In the southernmost dans, the European hare
has been introduced during the last few decades and, in some places, has
propagated itself very considerably, even to the point of supplanting the
indigenous animal.
Among the rasores, the capercailzie, the black-game, the hazel-grouse,
the ptarmigan, and the partridge are the favourite quarry of sportsman.
They occur, more or less numerously, according to the nature of the
ground, the capercailzie and the hazel-grouse chiefly in the back-woods,
the black-game in forest- as well as pasture-land, and on heaths, the
ptarmigan only in the mountain districts, and the partridge in
cultivated land. The pheasant has been introduced in many places and, where
the locality is favourable, seems to thrive. Among wading birds, the
woodcock is much esteemed as game. It breeds in most parts where damp
woodland is to be found but is decreasing in number, in spite of the fact
that Sweden is one of the few countries where this beautiful bird is
protected by law during part of the breeding time. This is also the case
with the common snipe, which, in consequence of the continual drainage
of the bog-lands is being deprived of suitable breeding-grounds. Among
swimmers, the mallard, as far as shooting is concerned, is doubtless the
most important, and it occurs in varying numbers both in the interior and
along the coast. On rocks and cliffs in the sea, as also in mountain lakes
and rivers in Norrland, several species of poachards breed, which, like the
mallard, are migratory birds and, during their flights in autumn and
spring along our coasts, are eagerly hunted by the coast-population, who
also exact heavy tribute from other swimmers dwelling along the coasts.
From an economic point of view, shooting is not nowadays of the same
importance as before, when the supply of game was more ample. Probably only
few of the inhabitants of the country are now to be able to make a living out
of hunting. In the Lappland districts of the läns of Norrbotten and Väster-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
