1)6 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



performed tlie ratluM- trying duties with good judgment, skill and entire 

 success. Not an animal was lost or injured after being placed in the 

 ears and all reached their respective destination apparently in excellent 

 condition. (See figs. 25 and 26.) Mr. John RoM'ley, curator, depart- 

 ment of mammals, and Mr. Herring, taxidermist, were on hand at 

 Buttonwillow dnring the entire time, and saved for the museum of the 

 California Academy of Sciences all the animals that got killed or 

 fatally injured. On the whole, the experiment of distributing the elk 

 to various parts of the state is regarded as having been a success, and it 

 is believed it will do much toward the conservation of this interesting 

 species of big game. 



CALIFORNIA'S FUR^BEARING MAMMALS. 



By Harold C. Bryant, 

 Game Expert, California Fish and Game Commission. 



The fur-bearing mammals of California have decreased rapidly in 

 the last twenty years and there are, as a result, only a relatively few- 

 men who are professional trappers. Once a state which supplied thou- 

 sands of valuable fui's each year, California now counts for but little 

 in the fur markets of the world. And yet even now, with but a remnant 

 left, the sale of furs brings into this state each year a sum not less than 

 5|i250,000. At the present rate of decrease, however, there is little hope 

 that this sum can long continue to pour into our coffers, even though 

 the price of raw furs continues to rise. 



California possesses practically all of the best fur-bearing species 

 of animals. Look over the list: Gray squirrel, beaver, Pribilof fur 

 seal, mountain lion, lynx, coyote, gray fox, red fox, ring-tailed 

 cat, raccoon, black bear, weasel, river otter, sea otter, badger, skunk, 

 wolverine, fisher, and mink. 



Already two of the best of the fur-bearers, the sea otter and beaver, 

 have had to be totally protected in order to save them. The grizzly 

 bear is entirely extinct within the state, and the Guadalupe fur seal very 

 nearly so. The beaver of our "mountain districts has been entirely 

 exterminated and there are but a few hundred survivors to be found 

 along the Sacramento, Colorado, and San Joaquin rivers. 



Although once exceedingly numerous along the coast, the sea otter is 

 now nearing extinction. Two or three were killed just before the law 

 protecting them M^ent into effect in 1913, but few have been reported 

 as having been seen since that time. Bidwell, in Rogers' "History of 

 Colusa County," states that when the county was first settled it was 

 not uncommon to see thirty or forty grizzly bears in one day. There 

 has not been an instance of the killing of a real grizzly in California 

 for the last four years. Apparently "Monarch" was the last surviving 

 member of the species. He died in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 

 about three years ago. 



The slow decrease of the fur trade has been noted by nearly every- 

 body and yet no attention has been paid to the possibility of conserving 

 the fur bearers as a natural resource to be administered like other 

 natural resources of the state. The chances of being able to do this 



