CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. 



119 



legislation relative to fur-bearing mam- 

 mals, agricultural and game interests 

 versus fur interests, and federal and state 

 forest reserves as permanent producers of 

 fur-bearing mammals. 



A general account of each species is 

 being planned for, under which will ap- 

 pear topics such as common and scien- 

 tific names, marks for field identification, 

 description of pelage, moult, coloration, 

 pads, claws, measurements, weights, 

 skulls, teeth, variation, general distribu- 

 tion, type locality and specimens exam- 

 ined. Other topics, such as mannerisms, 

 gait, posture of body, instances of behav- 

 ior, timidity, voice, tracks and other sign, 

 sanitation, breeding dens, breeding sea- 

 sons and habits, number of young in 

 litter, time of birth, precocity of young, 

 paternal care, enemies, nature of food 

 (exact data), feeding and forage habits, 

 relative abundance, estimates of popula- 

 tion, changes within history, relation to 

 agriculture, grazing and forestry, and 

 economic status, will be treated in detail. 



Suggestions, information and observa- 

 tions of special interest will be welcomed 

 from the readers of California Fish and 

 Game. In order to be of most value, the 

 locality, date, and name of the observer 

 must be given. Address communications 

 to 



INIuseum of Vertebrate Zoology, 



University of California, 



Berkeley, California. 



ADEQUATE GAME PROTECTION. 



What will make for better game pro- 

 tective measures throughout the United 

 States is a question which concerns all 

 of the people of the United States who are 

 interested in the conservation of wild life. 

 The Pine Cone, tha official bulletin of the 

 New Mexico Game Protective Associa- 

 tion, in the issue of March, 1920, states 

 that either the inadequate, conventional 

 methods of game protection, in vogue in 

 practically every state in the Union, must 

 go, or the game must go. This is rather 

 too radical a statement, but it is generally 

 conceded that there is a vast need for 

 improvement in the individual state game 

 protective departments of the United 

 States. There are three fundamental pre- 

 cepts which are applicable to the state 

 game departments in general, and which, 



if striven for, and earnestly adhered to, 

 would assuredly do much to not only 

 solve the problem of more adequate wild 

 life conservation in each state, but would 

 perfect the appended system to the 

 national department on conservation. 

 They are as follows : 



First — The slogan in every state should 

 be, "Conservation through education." 



8eco')id — Plenary powers should be 

 granted the commissions or departments 

 concerned with game regulation and wild 

 life resources, not with the idea of giving 

 more power, but of avoiding the necessary 

 delay entailed by state legislation. This 

 point is aptly exemplified by again quot- 

 ing from the Pine Cone : The state de- 

 partment of health is a commission to 

 which the state legislature has delegated 

 extensive authority in regulating public 

 health — such as making rules for the sani- 

 tary handling of milk, closing public meet- 

 ings in time of epidemic, etc. Suppose 

 during the influenza epidemic, we had had 

 to wait for a meeting of the legislature 

 before closing public meetings. Yet that 

 is no more illogical than waiting for a 

 legislative enactment to close the season 

 on a species immediately threatened with 

 extermination." And 



Third — Departmental duties and dis- 

 cretionary powers should be conscien- 

 tiously executed. Particularly with re- 

 gard to — ■ 



(1) The granting of permits. 



(2) The practice of quantitative dis- 

 tribution of licenses. 



(3) The setting aside of game sanc- 

 tuaries proportionate to the requirements 

 of the state. 



In California it is worthy of note and 

 emphasis that 3,107.520 acres — 27 game 

 refuges by legislative enactment, 3 game 

 preserves by the Fish and Game Com- 

 mission, 5 bird reservations, and the 

 national park areas by the federal govern- 

 ment — have been set aside where no 

 hunting is allowed, and where game is 

 allowed to breed unmolested. This is, as 

 has been stated before, roughly speaking, 

 about 3 per cent of the total area of the 

 state. 



It is by constructive methods, there- 

 fore, that the goal of adequate wild life 

 conservation will be reached. 



