At the end of the 18th century the New World was still an Eden - in a naturalist's words - "swarming with Bisons or buffaloes, Stags, and Virginian Deer, with Bears, and great variety of game." At the end of the 19th century the buffalo and the white-tailed deer were nearly gone, and at least 11 species of North American mammals and birds had been wiped out - a record of extinction unmatched in any other large area on earth. . . .