numbers o f small animals and 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; bawks 14 027; crows 253 913.
I f 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 Skane 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 cervidse, the wild 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 Skane. 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 Ians, 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 hlack-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 Ians of Norrbotten and Vasterbotten,
and in -some parts of the lan of Jamtland, where the trapping of forest
birds and ptarmigan is still permitted by the law, the poor population are, perhaps,
able to obtain a considerable contribution to their means of livelihood. Considerable
quantities of birds obtained^ in this way are annually sent in a frozen
.state from these regions to more southern parts of the country. The hunter
who succeeds in killing an elk or two in the year can also be said to make a
good profit,, as a full grown elk has a value of 75 to 150 kronor. That the
coast-population can gain some sort of livelihood out of sea-fowl is mentioned above.
■Otherwise, only a comparatively small profit can be gained by the individual out
•of shooting, as long as the stock of game is kept on the low level to which it
has gradually fallen in the more densely populated parts. The shooting is,
however, of no small value to the landowner, inasmuch as well-to-do sportsmen,
for their own pleasure, try more and more to . obtain the shooting-rights on
adjoining lands, against payment of so-called shooting-rents. What the landowner
cannot gain by his own shooting he can thus, by letting out his shooting,
obtain to an amount often considerably higher than that which the game existing
■on his grounds really represents.
Though the shooting for individuals can thus be said to be of comparatively
slight importance as a source of gain, still the game killed in the whole country
represents a considerable capital, which is well worth administering in a practical
way. As game, besides, makes a wholesome and nourishing food, which is highly
esteemed for its excellent taste, and as shooting is a strengthening and hardening
sport for the growing generation, everything seems to indicate that such
attention should' be paid to the game, that not only is its decrease prevented,
but its development, on the, contrary, advanced. The interest in an improved
preservationilof the game is, happily, steadily increasing, and shooting interests
are promoted by numerous shooting associations and unions for the protection
of game, which have united to attain this object, under the name of ’’Svenska
Jagareforbundet“ (Swedish Hunters’ Association).
2. FISHING.
Sweden being surrounded to a large_ extent by the sea and possessing
innumerable lakes scattered in its interior, its inhabitants turn their eyes
to the waters as the source of a considerable portion of their livelihood.
It is true that the increasing cultivation of the country and its industrial
development, as well as the great value which its vast forests now have,
compared with their former value, have had as a result that fishing is not
of the same importance nowadays as it once was for the few and scattered
inhabitants of former days. But even to day, fishing has a considerable
value as a source of livelihood. In consequence of improved methods
of fishing and of the higher price of fish, it is certain more remunerative
nowadays than at any previous period. . With regard to the returns of the
Swedish fisheries, we have as yet only scattered and very insufficient
information. According to an approximate estimation for the period
1891— 95, the annual value will, however, have amounted to about 9
million kronor, of which 4 million come from the coast-fisheries, 1-5 from
15—133179. Sweden. II.