22 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



on coyotes, and a few also on wildcats. Whether the bounty system is 

 the best means of attacking the problem is still in doubt. It can be 

 justified only when the animal on which the bounty is paid is 

 individually of great destructiveness, and at the same time not so 

 abundant that the paying of bounties is too great a tax on the treasury. 

 When the average hunter becomes able to distinguish between friend 

 and foe there will probably be a large enough toll of predacious birds 

 and mammals taken voluntarily by him to enable game to hold its own, 

 without resoi-t to bounties or other special means (see Forbush, 1916, 

 p. 56). 



There is danger that some of the introduced game birds may become 

 enemies of native game birds, not so much because of any predacious 

 habits of the former or of their pugnacity, as because of usurpation 

 of food supply. This matter has been covered in our chapter on ''His- 

 tory of attempts to introduce non-native game birds into California" 

 (p. 43) . Although it has been suggested that the Ring-necked Pheasant 

 would not only appropriate the food supply of Valley Quail but also 

 by its pugnacity drive it out of its habitat, what little evidence is at 

 hand points the other way. The Valley Quail can apparently hold its 

 own, and it is even said to drive out the pheasants (Neale, 1915, pp. 

 153-155). What effect the few introduced game birds have actually 

 had on our native species we are unable to state. 



The ground-foraging Roadrunner has been accused of destroying 

 the eggs and young of Valley Quail. An attempt to obtain light on 

 this point brought little positive evidence. The investigation included 

 a review of every published reference to the food of the Roadrunner 

 in California, as well as the analysis of eighty-three stomachs of Road- 

 runners taken in southern California (H. C. Bryant, 1916). The 

 investigation showed that, although the Roadrunner may occasionally 

 attack small birds, its bird-eating and egg-eating habits have been 

 exaggerated, and that the killing of this bird as an injurious species 

 is wholly unjustified. It is only in very rare cases that young quail 

 are molested. The benefits conferred by the Roadrunner in the 

 destruction of insect and rodent pests plus its great esthetic value 

 leave a balance greatly in favor of the bird and mark it as a beneficial 

 rather than injurious species. Here, again, decisions were jumped 

 at, which subsequent careful study failed to supi)ort. 



Among reptiles, a few of the snakes are commonly believed to rob 

 the nests of birds. There is no doubt that individual gopher snakes 

 do resort to a diet of quail's eggs when opportunity offers. Four well- 

 attested cases of this sort are on record (Hoover, 1899, p. 75). But 

 here, as with most predators, the normal or usual toll, of the species 

 as a whole, should be taken into account, and the service of this snake 

 as a rodent destroyer compels favorable consideration. 



