88 



CAI.IPORNIA riSII AND GAME. 



piH'Ntnicc :it aii.\- oilier iKjiiit in (he stale. 

 However, a rumor iwrsists anions- market 

 hunters of the Los Bauos region tliat a 

 large form of white-fronted goose exists 

 and has been killed there. 



It is said that the tule goose is never 

 seen in such large flocks as is customary 

 with the white-fronted goose but is most 

 frequently noted singly or in pairs, aiso 

 that it is pre-eminently a denizen of open 

 water or ponds and sloughs surrounded 

 by tales and willows. 



It was interesting to find tnat the 

 original description of the American 

 white-fronted goose by Hartlaub more 



iic:n-ly Ills (he (ule goose and that conse- 

 qu<'n(ly the name Anser albifrons gam- 

 bcli- must bo made to apply to the tule 

 goose, the common white-fronted goose 

 assuming the name A)isvr ulbifrons albi- 

 frons in common with the white-fronted 

 goose of Asia. 



Waterfowl hunters will hereafter be 

 justified in giving the large white- 

 fronted goose with bill 53-62 millimeters 

 in length the name of tule goose and the 

 smaller white-fronted goose with bill 44— 

 r>2 millimeters long the name of white- 

 fronted goose. — Amy M. Bryant. 



FAIR PLAY. 



(A page of criticisms and answers.) 



RAISING RICE FOR WILD GAME 

 CONSUMPTION. 



Editor The L'hronlclc — Sir: I bought a 

 wild duck in a market in Sacramento a 

 few days ago and when I dressed it I 

 found at least a half ounce of rice in its 

 craw, and many grains embedded tightly 

 under each wing, showing beyond a doubt 

 that it had beaten the rice stalks down in 

 order to get at the grain. If this were 

 called to the attention of Mr. Newbert, 

 president of the State Fish and Game 

 Commission, he would likely explain by 

 saying that some mudhen had stuck the 

 grains of rice under the duck's wings 

 while in deadly combat with the duck. 

 W. D. Bludworth. 



Sacramento, January 28, 1018. 



— .Sf. F. Chronidc, Jan. 31, 1918. 



THEY DINE ON THE LEAVINGS. 



Editor The Chronicle — Sir: JMy atten- 

 tion has been called to a little item which 

 appeared in the Safety Valve column of 

 your paper of January 31. It was headed 

 "Raising Rice for Wild Game Consump- 

 tion," and bore the modest signature of 

 W. D. Bludworth of this city. Mr. Blud- 

 worth asserts he bought a wild duck in 

 the marKet recently and he found at least 

 a half ounce of rice in its craw and many 

 grains of the cereal embedded tightly under 

 each wing, showing beyond a doubt that 

 the duck had beaten the rice stalks down 



in order to get at the grain. I would 

 share Mr. Bludworth's apprehension and 

 indignation were it not for the fact that 

 my knowledge of ducks goes slightly be- 

 yond "craws." It may interest Mr. Blud- 

 worth to know that ducks do not have 

 craws, they have gullets. Craws are 

 peculiar to chickens and turkeys. The 

 rice crop was fully matured and cut by 

 November 1 (over three months ago) and 

 was threshed, sacked and stored more than 

 one month ago, so the duck mentioned by 

 Mr. Bludworth apparently had "put one 

 over" on Hoover and had hoarded that 

 rice under its wings for three months 

 after the crop was in. The rice found 

 in Mr. Bludworth's duck can be accounted 

 for by the fact that there is a large 

 amount of rice lost in harvesting the crop. 

 This lost rice serves as food for many 

 varieties of birds and if left on the ground 

 it would grow into a form of water grass 

 that is particularly obnoxious to rice 

 farmers. On the whole, if Mr. Blud- 

 worth's statement is to be accepted with- 

 out question, I would say he had pur- 

 chased not a duck but a pin-feathered 

 freak of nature. Mr. Bludworth says it 

 was a wild duck. It's enough to make 

 any duck wild. The question is "When is 

 a duck not a duck'?" Answer: >vhen it's 



^ Q"''>^'^- George Neale. 



Sacramento. February (1, 1918. 



— ,S'. F. Chronicle, Feb. 10, 1918. 



