REPORT OF THE FLSll AND GAME COMMISSION. 107 



ing sufficient sctllnncul of intffiinl t roiihlrs in tliat revolntion-rent 

 repiiVvlic. Jt is pi'oposccl to make tlic liiial arrunf'i'cnuMit.s as .soon as 

 such order is restored tliat such a mission will not imperil those dele- 

 jLiated to so important a .service. In the meantime, investigation of the 

 living conditions and hahit.s of these quail has progressed far enoiiL;h to 

 give every reasonahle assui-anee that tliey are desirable from the sports- 

 man's point of view, a.s well as promising to succeed in southern Cali- 

 fornia because of the similarity in climatic conditions with their 

 present habitat. No less an ;iulhority than Edward W. Nelson, Chief of 

 the Biological Survey, has advised the California Fish and (iamc Com- 

 mission to that effect, which brings i)robably the ablest judgment in 

 the world to this question. 



Among the problems of those who seek to protect and increase game, 

 in southern California particularly, one of the foremost is the main- 

 tenance of suitable natural conditions that will encourage the residence, 

 and particularly the breeding of our indigenous game. Without this, 

 there is no foundation upon which to build in its behalf. Settling up of 

 the country unavoidably means turning tillable land beneath the plow; 

 and the subdivision of the large land-holdings of but yesterday is 

 bound to bring a continuing menace to the maintenance of the game. 

 Smaller owners are almost certain to cultivate more intensively, where 

 the big proprietors left large ranges for stock, crops nowadays are going 

 in, often but not always to the deprivation of the sportsman of his most 

 desiral)le iii»land "happy hunting grounds." There is some comfort 

 in the knowledge that many crops add something to the food supply of 

 game; but none can deny the curtailment in breeding grounds, notably 

 of quail, in the more thickly .settled areas. 



In various ways the conservation anthoi'itics liave sought to meet this 

 is.sue in the south following the general state plan. Previous legislatures 

 provided the necessary enabling acts preliminary to the setting aside 

 of suitable areas for the natural propagation of game. In the aggregate, 

 millions of acres in the national forests have thus been reserved in the 

 form of game refuges. These, under the Districting Act, must each be 

 created separately and in a definite numerical rotation even as the 

 larger Fisli and (iame Districts, which were dictated by the desire to 

 harmonize open seasons with the wide variance in breeding habits inci- 

 dental to California's contincnt.il climatic range. 



The game refuges of .southern California were altered somewhat 

 both as to boundaries and as to regulations by the last legi.slature, the 

 aim being to render them as efficient as [xissiblc. Anti-vermin cam- 

 paigns were conducted in some of them, with vci-y material results, 

 not only ilirectly in the decrease of prcdatorx' vci-min hut to the very 

 evident benefit of the game therein. While rlie area of the Angeles 



