70 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



five months of the year and the price is very low in comparison with 

 other fish. With all this to recommend the fish, but very few are sold in 

 the fresh fish markets. The public objects to the many fine bones which 

 require time and effort to remove. While herring have been retailing 

 for five cents per pound this winter, the public has spent much time and 

 effort in complaining of the scarcity and high cost of fish. 



I'ig. 48. 



Ileiriiig smoke houses at Pittsburg, Contra Costa County, California, March, 1918. 

 Photograph by N. B. Scofield. 



DUCKS VS. RICE. 



By GEORGE NEALE, Assistant, Sacramento Division, Fish and Game Commission. 



A number of complaints having been made to the Fish and Game Com- 

 mission of the destruction of rice by wild ducks, Mr. F. M. Newbert, 

 president of the Fish and Game Commission, instructed me to make a 

 full investigation of the same, learn the extent of the alleged damage ; 

 also to seek some method of defense against the loss. After a series of 

 experiments conducted by myself and ]\Ir. T. R. Cooper, of Gingg & 

 Cooper, large rice growers near Live Oak, Sutter County, I am in a 

 position to state that destruction of growing rice crops by blackbirds 

 and waterfowl, if properly controlled, can be prevented. The only 

 method heretofore utilized to obtain relief has been to use what is Imown 

 as "fixed ammunition," or the regular shotgun loads of smokeless 

 powder, with ])ird shot. 



I do not hesitate to say that tliis method of securing relief is ridiculous 

 on the face of it; for, to obtain relief, it can be seen that it would be 

 necessary to kill every ])lackbird, duck and inudhen in the country, which 

 is an impossibility and unnecessary. And, again, for the reason that 

 smokeless powder is made to kill and not to frighten. 



