48 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



The Bowman Law 



An attempt to encourage the breeding of game in captivity was 

 made in 1913 when the Bowman Law (Stats. 1913, Penal Code, §631<i), 

 providing for game farming, was passed by the State Legislature. 

 This law, although not an ideal one, ])rovides for the selling under the 

 tag system of game reared in captivity. It had, when passed, the dis- 

 advantage of prescribing a large license fee — $25.00. This burden- 

 some condition has prevented most breeders in the state from availing 

 themselves of the provisions of the law, and unless the license fee be 

 reduced, it will continue to discourage rather than encourage game 

 farming. 



Propagation of Upland Game Birds 



Of all our native game birds, the Valley Quail has been most 

 widely reared in captivity. If the first eggs deposited be removed, 

 the female bird will lay as many as sixty or seventy eggs during a 

 season. The first eggs secured can be set under bantam hens, and the 

 quail may be allowed to hatch the last fifteen or twenty eggs. No one, 

 so far as we know, has been successful in rearing Mountain Quail. A 

 number of these birds have been kept in captivity by breeders, but in 

 the lower altitudes they show no tendency to breed. No similar trial 

 of grouse has been attempted. The latter birds are almost impossible 

 to obtain alive, and judging from experiments with Ruffed Grouse in 

 the East, efforts in this direction would promise only failure. A few 

 persons living in the Sage-hen country have attempted to rear Sage- 

 hens, but without success. 



The Mourning Dove is kept as an aviary bird and proves prolific. 

 Mr. L. W. Hammond, of Fillmore, Ventura County, has informed us 

 that this dove breeds readily in captivity, rearing at least two broods 

 a year ; and Mrs. Elizabeth Grinnell, of Pasadena, has also been suc- 

 cessful in rearing these birds. Wounded birds captured in the shoot- 

 ing season and housed by Mrs. Grinnell in large open cages through 

 the winter bred the following spring. One such pair nested several 

 times from early spring to October and produced many young, but 

 there were never more than the usual two eggs laid for one setting. 

 The parent birds were successful in raising every squab that was 

 hatched. It was found possible to transfer young from nests found in 

 the wild to the care of the captive adults, always with favorable results. 

 Squabs found in deserted nests after the opening of the hunting season, 

 and whose parents had probably been shot, were reared on a diet of 

 "chewed-up" nuts and similar material. 



