118 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME, 



delivered opinion of the court, Justice 

 Holmes said : 



"The treaty in <iuestiou dops not con- 

 travene any prohibitory words to be 

 found in tho constitution. The only 

 (luestion is whetlior it is forbidden by 

 some invisible radiation from the general 

 terms of the Tenth Amendment. 



Here national interest of very nearly 

 the first mnsnitude is involved. It caii 

 be i)rotected only by national action in 

 concert with that of another jiower. The 

 subject matter is only transitorily 'within 

 (lie state and has no permanent habitat 

 tlicreiu. But for the treaty or the 

 statute, the reason misht be no birds 

 for any power to deal with. We see 

 nothing in the constitution that compels 

 the government to sit by while a food 

 supply is cut off and the protectors of 

 our forests and our crops are destroyed. 

 It is not sufficient to rely upon the states. 

 The reliance is vain, and were it other- 

 wise, the question is whether the United 

 States is forl)idden to act. We are of 

 the opinion that the treaty and statute 

 must be upheld." 



The decree was affirmed, Associate Jus- 

 tices Van Devanter and Pitney dissenting. 



SURVEY OF THE FUR-BEARING 

 MAMMALS OF CALIFORNIA. 

 Many readers of California Fish and 

 Game who do more or less trapping 

 each year will be directly interested in 

 the announcement that on December 1, 

 1019, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology 

 of the University of California began an 

 investigation of the fur-bearing mammals 

 of the state. The puiijose of the investi- 

 gation thus undertaken is to secure reli- 

 able information as fully as feasible con- 

 cerning the food, breeding habits and all 

 other points worth knowing in the nat- 

 ural history of our fur-bearers. It is 

 believed that this information is espec- 

 ially desirable at this time so as to 

 determine the economic status of the 

 various species, th's being in many cases 

 in doubt to ascertain the annual catch 

 which may be safely taken without en- 

 dangering the present breeding stock, and 

 further to fui-nish an adequate basis for 

 sound constructive legislation that will 

 protect and develop the fur resources of 

 our state. The income to the trappers of 

 California from this source now amounts 

 to nearly $400,000 annually. 



All wild mammals of California whose 

 pelts are commonly sold for fur are to be 

 considered as fur-bearing mammals in 

 this investigation. 



Arrangements have been fully made, 

 and the work is already well under way. 

 Mr. Joseph Di.xon, Economic Mammalo- 

 gist of the above named institution, has 

 spent a large part of the past trapping 

 season visiting the trappers of the state 

 and in securing first hand information 

 relative to fur-bearing mammals. Dia- 

 grams to scale, measurements and photo- 

 graphs of breeding dens, notes on life 

 history, together with photographs of the 

 living animals in the wild have already 

 been secured of several of our most im- 

 portant fur-bearers. 



Blank records have been sent to the 

 most progressive trappers of the state 

 and these men have responded heartily. 

 Many of them have examined the stomach 

 contents of all the animals that they 

 have trapped, so that we now have, in 

 addition to field notes and collections 

 gathered during the past eleven years 

 by the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 

 as a foundation to go on, over 350 defi- 

 nite records, from these reports of food 

 found in the stomachs of practically all 

 the common fur-bearers in this state. 

 The trappers have also sent in all avail- 

 able records of females that they have 

 trapped which have contained embryos 

 (unborn young). This affords an accu- 

 rate index to the time and rate of breed- 

 ing of these animals and has a direct 

 value in determining the date when the 

 trapping season should close in order to 

 "protect the crop" for the succeeding 

 trapping season. 



An important feature of recent field 

 work has been the taking of parafiin 

 casts of tracks made by live wild animals 

 under natural conditions in the field. 

 Such a cast faithfully reproduces every 

 dimension and contour of the original 

 track and thus affords an excellent idea 

 of one sort of "sign" which may be looked 

 for by trappers 



It is expected that at least three years' 

 work will be required before the results 

 of the investigation will be ready for 

 publication. It is planned that this shall 

 be in book form. Arrangements have 

 been made to have this volume illustrated 

 with color plates by America's foremost 

 animal artists. Chapters in the book will 

 be devoted to decrease of fur-bearing 

 mammals, causes and control of this 

 decrease, the fur trapper in California, 

 methods of trapping and curing furs, 



