82 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



of bounty laws, which in most cases are 

 pernicious and which if enacted at all 

 should be directed only against the larger 

 predatoi-y animals or those which are 

 dangerous to human life or exceedingly 

 destructive to domestic animals or crops. 



LAWS RELATING TO FUR-BEARING 

 ANIMALS, 1916. 



Pursuant to custom, started several 

 years ago, the Bureau of Biological Sur- 

 vey has issued a bulletin entitled "Laws 

 relating to fur-bearing animals, 1916," 

 which has been issued as Farmers Bulle- 

 tin 783. This report is a summary of the 

 laws in the United States and Canada 

 relating to trapping, protection, propa- 

 gation and bounties of fur-bearing ani- 

 mals. 



The introduction is of particular inter- 

 est: "The value of the raw fur produc- 

 tion of the United States and Canada 

 has grown enormously in spite of the 

 steadily diminishing supply of animals 

 that furnish the finer pelts. In 1915 

 trappers of North America earned by 

 their industry probably not less than 

 $20,000,000, a remarkable sum when it is 

 remembered that exports of raw furs were 

 only about half the normal proportions. 

 Conditions of the trapping industry have 

 been greatly improved in recent years by 

 legislation protecting fur animals in much 

 of the territory where the business is 

 important. As with game laws, each year 

 brings changes in the trapping regula- 

 tions, and it becomes important that the 

 rights and privileges of trappers, as well 

 as the limitations placed on their calling, 

 be made plain. The present bulletin is 

 designed for this purpose. It gives a brief 

 review of changes made by legislative 

 enactments of the past year, a summary 

 of trapping regulations now in force, fol- 

 lowed by short statements of the open 

 seasons for taking furs, provisions relat- 

 ing to propagation of fur animals, and 

 bounties offered for the destruction of 

 predatory species, or those considered 

 harmful. These are given by states and 

 provinces, arranged in alphabetic order." 



The larger part of the bulletin is de- 

 voted, therefore, to a systematic treatment 

 of the laws in each state, followed by a 

 summary of fur protection, giving under 

 the different species of fur-bearing mam- 

 mals a table showing the length in days 



of open season for trapping various fur 

 animals. 



That California is lagging behind asf 

 regards protection for fur-bearers is evi- 

 dent by the following facts brought out 

 in the bulletin : The mink has a closed 

 season in Alaska, in twenty-four states 

 and in nearly all of Canada ; the skunk 

 has a closed season in eighteen states; 

 the raccoon in nineteen states ; and the 

 fox in eleven states. Not one of these 

 fur-bearers is given protection in Cali- 

 fornia. 



The bear appears to be given poor 

 protection everywhere. Only four states 

 now have a closed season and a few of 

 the states either forbid trapping or regu- 

 late it. In giving protection to bears 

 California could be one of the leaders and 

 it is hoped that this opportunity will not 

 pass unheeded. 



The bulletin above reviewed comes at 

 an opportune time, for it will give much 

 necessary data in connection with the at- 

 tempt being made to give fur-bearers in 

 this state the protection which they need 

 during this session of the legislature. 



DEATH CLAIMS TWO NOTED 

 SCIENTISTS. 



During the past year death has claimed 

 two noted ornithologists. Professor Wells 

 W. Cooke, in charge of the migration 

 investigations of the United States Biolog- 

 ical Survey, died at his home in Wash- 

 ington, D. C, March 30, 1916, from acute 

 pneumonia. No man in the United States 

 knew more about the migration of North 

 American birds. The notes of hundreds of 

 observers throughout the United States 

 were annually compiled and the data thus 

 obtained form a basis for many valuable 

 publications dealing with bird migration. 

 The distribution and migration of differ- 

 ent groups of birds were treated in sepa- 

 rate bulletins. Consequently we find such 

 titles as "Distribution and migration of 

 North American shore birds" (Biol. Surv. 

 Bull. 35), "Disti'ibution and migration of 

 North American herons and allies" (Biol. 

 Surv. Bull. 45), "Distribution and migra- 

 tion of North American rails and their 

 allies" (Bull. U. S. Dept. Agric. 128). 

 The most important general paper, one 

 which sums up the present day knowledge 

 of the migration of North American birds, 

 treating of such subjects as causes of 



