CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
State Commission of Horticulture. 
Mourning doves sometimes are victims of 
poison put out for squirrels, but there is 
little direct evidence that quail are 
poisoned. The government formula is 
being used almost exclusively, and the 
United States Public Health Service 
showed by a series of experiments that 
quail can take five or six times as much 
poisoned barley as a ground squirrel and 
show no effects. (See “The Effect of 
Strychnine Sulphate on California Valley 
Quail,” Calif. Fish and Game, Vol. 2, 
pp. 11-13.) The experiments demon- 
strated that valley quail may be _ fed 
relatively large amounts of strychnine 
sulphate without toxic symptoms and that 
poisoned barley as used in ground squirrel 
eradication does not cause the death of 
California valley quail under natural 
feeding conditions. 
RESEARCH PROBLEMS OF THE CALI- 
FORNIA FISH AND GAME COMMIS- 
SION. 
Although depending largely on the re- 
sults of scientific investigations carried 
on by universities and professional inves- 
tigators, the California Fish and Game 
Commission is actively engaged in solving 
some of the problems connected with the 
administration of fish and game resources. 
The greater the basis of fact the more 
sure is proper legislation. Facts suitable 
as a basis for legislation are obtained by 
careful research work. Some of the 
early experiments in tagging salmon and! 
trout furnished dependable evidence as to 
the importance of these fish and furnished 
a splendid basis for legislation. EXxperi- 
ments carried out by the state hatcheries 
have greatly improved methods. 
A summary of the investigations now 
under way will demonstrate the fact that 
the commission is attacking problems in 
a systematic and scientific way. 
Department of Commercial Fisheries. 
In order to solve problems connected 
with the fisheries, a trained investigator, 
Mr. Will I. Thompson, a graduate of 
Stanford University and formerly an 
official investigator for the British Colum- 
bia Fishery Department, has been em- 
ployed. Mr. Thompson is devoting his 
full time to the solution of the prob- 
lems connected with albacore and albacore 
141 
fisheries. He has already been able to 
report that there is a correlation between 
temperature and the catches made. Much 
evidence as to spawning of this fish and 
the age as demonstrated by micruscopical 
examination of the scales has been com- 
piled. This investigator will next turn 
his attention to the herring and the 
herring industry. A full laboratory 
equipment has furnished for this 
work. 
Hxamination of many specimens of fish 
of different kinds to demonstrate the time 
of spawning has also been carried on by 
the department. Plans have also been 
made for some tagging experiments, so 
that the life history of the salmon may 
be better known. 
been 
Department of Fish Culture. 
Although no definite investigations are 
now under way, the outcome of several 
fish transplanting experiments are being 
awaited with interest. Golden trout have 
been transplanted and it will be possible 
to demonstrate whether these brightly 
colored fish will change in coloration 
when changed to other localities. Other 
similar experiments dealing with steel- 
head trout have been instituted. 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION, PUBLICITY 
AND RESEARCH. 
A part of the time of the director of 
this bureau has been directed to the study 
of the food habits of birds. An investi- 
gation of the food habits of the road- 
runner has been completed. The road- 
runner has been accused by sportsmen of 
destroying nests and young of the valley 
quail. FHighty-three stomachs of road- 
runners were examined, the contents 
tabulated, and a full report published. 
The last year has been devoted to the 
food habits of ducks in California. 
Hundreds of duck’s stomachs have been 
examined and it will be possible to show 
which are the best food plants for 
attracting waterfowl. 
In addition, studies have been made as 
to the relation of certain birds and ani- 
mals to agriculture, and evidence on the 
breeding of ducks and other waterfowl 
has been collected. Information on the 
game birds and mammals of the state is 
being systematically collected and _ filed 
so that it will be available for further 
work. 
