CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



131 



lature. There are two measures espe- 

 cially which they wish repealed. One is 

 the law creating a fish reservation around 

 Santa Catalina Island, and prohibiting 

 the use of all nets within three miles of 

 the shore of the island. And the other is 



the law prohibiting the use of paran- 

 zella, or trawl nets, in the sixth district. 

 The fishermen claim that these provisions 

 practically ruin the mai'ket fishing along 

 the coast of southern California. 



CONSERVATION IN OTHER STATES. 



A NEW DEVICE TO PROTECT BIRDS. 



The general interest in bird protection 

 has been productive of the invention of a 

 device by Herr J. P. Thijsse of Utrecht 

 to reduce the destruction of birds by light- 

 houses. The device has already been 

 placed on two British lighthouses and is 

 said to be giving excellent results. Light- 

 houses have long been instrumental in 

 destroying great numbers of migrating 

 birds, which have been attracted by the 

 light during stormy weal her. In some 

 places thousands of birds kill themselves 

 by flying against the light on each stormy 

 night during the migration season. The 

 new device now being used in Great 

 Britain is reported to be a series of 

 perches on which the storm-driven birds 

 can alight and rest until morning. 



MORE WILD LIFE REFUGES. 

 The Minnesota Game and Fish Com- 

 mission is planning to establish a chain of 

 wild life refuges in that state. The plan 

 is not, however, that instituted by Indiana 

 and adopted by Iowa, of permitting land- 

 holders to post their farms as state game 

 preserves, allowing them to shoot "rab- 

 bits" on these "preserves" and supplying 

 them with expensive exotic game birds 

 for "stocking" purposes. — Recreation, De- 

 cember, 1914. 



HOW TO ATTRACT BIRDS IN NORTH- 

 EASTERN UNITED STATES. 

 Farmers' Bulletin. No. 621, of the 

 United State Department of Agriculture 

 describes means of increasing the number 

 of birds about homes in the northeastern 

 United States. Methods of furnishing 

 birds with nesting places, food, and water 

 are described and figured, and methods 

 of protection are also suggested. Empha- 

 sis is placed on the furnishing of food by 

 means of plants and shrubs grown for 

 that purpose. A table of seventy-five dif- 

 ferent native and introduced plants and 

 shrubs are suggested as available for this 



purpose and the comparative length of 

 the fruiting seasons of each is figured. 



It is the plan of the United States Bio- 

 logical Survey to publish similar bulletins, 

 which will furnish accurate information 

 along these same lines for other parts of 

 the United States. While on the Pacific 

 coast recently, Mr. McAtee everywhere 

 gathered information so as to make pos- 

 sible such a bulletin dealing with the 

 northwestern United States. 



California is so well supplied with 

 natural food for birds that there is not 

 the same necessity for furnisliing them 

 artificial food plants. Nevertheless, we 

 shall watch with interest these practical 

 attempts to increase the number of birds 

 in limited localities. 



BOY SCOUTS BECOME GAME 

 WARDENS. 

 Under the leadership of M. D. Moser, 

 twenty-one boy scouts of Tacoma, Wash- 

 ington, have been given a course of train- 

 ing in game protection. As a reward for 

 their work the Game Commission of 

 Washington has awarded them speciil 

 badges. These boys are now doing good 

 individual work, especially among the 

 boys of the city, in protecting song birds. 

 Recently these boys took a census of 

 game birds in the vicinit.v of Tacoma. 

 A great many game birds were found in- 

 side the city limits. Quail were most 

 numerous, but great numbers of pheasants 

 and grouse were also found. 



AN EUROPEAN EXPERIMENT IN 

 PROTECTING BIRDS. 



The famous ornithologist. Baron vcn 

 Berlepsch, has for a number of years been 

 carrying on some interesting experiments 

 in furnishing birds nesting sites and food 

 on his estate at Seebach, in Thuringia. 

 So successful has the Baron been in these 

 experiments that his estate is now used 

 as a bird protection experiment station 

 bv the government. 



