134 



CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. 



cluck grounds are not permanent lakes 

 but mostly shallow overflowed grounds. 

 If we had had an early rainfall in Cali- 

 fornia, canvasback, redhead, blackjack, 

 and liluebill would have been much more 

 in evidence. However, we did not get the 

 rain until too late. Consequently the big 

 flight went south down the coast and we 

 (lid not see them. 



As to what species have decreased in 

 Iho last ten years, and what are the 

 causes, can be answered only after analyz- 

 ing all the conditions mentioned. Should 

 the island districts in the Sacramento- 

 San Joaquin delta, comprising all the 



very much the general appearance of 

 into separate families or genera. Yet, on 

 the State (iame Farm at Hayward a re- 

 markable instance of the crossing of widely 

 different birds has taken place. There 

 are now to be seen at the game farm five 

 birds v^'hich are the result of a cross 

 between a ring-necked pheasant cock and 

 a white cochin bantam hen. Mr. Dirks 

 reports that out of 229 eggs only 14 

 proved to be fertile and only 10 of the 

 eggs hatched. The hybrids appear to be 

 of two distinct kinds. Three of the birds 

 are dark in color, whereas two of them 

 are very light in color. The birds have 



Fig. 



33. — Hybrid birds at the State Game Farm at Hayward, California. They are 

 a cross between a ring-necked pheasant cock and a bantam cochin hen. 



overflowed and unreclaimed lands from 

 Colusa to the mouth of the Sacramento 

 River, return to the conditions existing 

 before reclamation and remain so for a 

 few years it would change the whole 

 aspect of duck conditions in Califor- 

 nia, as it did during the floods of Mai'ch, 

 1907, when all the islands in this district 

 were flooded and apparently all the ducks 

 in the world were in this area. In other 

 words, it appears that ducks have de- 

 creased for the reason stated — lack of 

 good feeding grounds. George Neale. 



STRANGE HYBRIDS. 



As a rule, we think it is out of the 

 ordinary to obtain a cross between birds 

 or mammals divided by the systematist 



pheasants, but cochin characteristics are 

 shown in the feathering on the tarsi. 

 (See fig. 33.) H. C. Bryant. 



SEA OTTERS NEAR POINT SUR. 

 A letter from John W. Astrom, keeper 

 of the Point Sur Light Station, dated 

 February 2, 1915, gives the following in- 

 formation regarding the number of south- 

 ern sea otters (Latax hitris nereis) found 

 in that locality: "During my service at 

 this station for the past six years I have 

 seen a good many sea otters. Especially 

 during February and March of each year 

 there seems to be more than at any other 

 time of the year. At the present time, 

 if walking on the beach between Light 

 Station and Big Sur River one can nearly 



