EDITORIAL 



OF recent years the printer has been kept so busy telling the world 

 of the good things that grow on tree and stalk and plant in the 

 California valleys, that a certain other aspect of the State's re- 

 sources, appealing powerfully to men of every degree, has failed 

 of its just share of attention. While Ceres has been monopolizing the ear 

 of the publicity man, Nimrod has been content with the tall timber, whence 

 the crack of his rifle only infrequently reaches the ears of the plodders on 

 our city pavements. To the reader who has not himself fared through the 

 fields and forests of the Golden State, it must therefore be a matter of some 

 conjecture as to just the scope and character of California's game life, in 

 fur and fin and feather. 



The primeval days of the grizzly bear have passed into history. Per- 

 haps in the utmost fastnesses of the least explored mountain districts a 

 few of his tribe still roam, but the modern hunter, sallying forth equipped 

 for even the heaviest game, no longer expects to meet him on the trail. 

 Also the reckless waste of those irresponsible days has more lately been 

 remedied by wisely framed laws, with the effect, as noted by one of our 

 contributors, of "putting the game-hog and the pot-hunter out of business." 



As to the present situation, California is without doubt the richest 

 region in the United States, not alone in the variety, but the plenty, of its 

 game. And to such an extent is this true that any self-respecting sports- 

 man in these parts would blush to be found killing such naturally exempt 

 birds as the meadow lark and robin. These birds indeed, together with 

 several others which still pass under legal interpretation as "game birds" 

 in various Eastern states, are here given complete immunity by the game 

 laws of California, and efforts are being made to have the dove admitted 

 to this same privileged class. The same absolute protection is for the time 

 being extended to the gray squirrel, and within the limits afforded by the 

 State and National Park reservations game of every sort finds a permanent 

 guarantee against the punishments of the play to which it is no consenting 

 party. But elsewhere thousands of square miles of mountain eerie, sound- 

 less gulch, waste land, and tidal marsh contribute to make the State an 

 acknowledged sportsman's paradise. 



Over the autumn marshes speed the countless thousands of ducks in 

 the utmost variance of their species, together with goose, and swan, and 

 loon, and that innumerable company the gunner knows as shore birds. 

 In the upland pipes the valley quail, perhaps of all the feathered host the 

 keenest antagonist of the true sportsman and the well-trained dog. So 

 well is this fine little bird holding his own against his adversaries, that the 

 farmers in some locations deem themselves persecuted by protective laws; 

 and the jest of the trail, that "a man may always kill a quail in self-defense" 

 may yet have to take a form of application for the relief of the granger 

 interests of the State. 



Higher up the mountain slopes we have the mountain quail and his big 

 cousin, the mountain grouse, that commonly measures two feet in length. 

 And in the uplifted universe of the Sierras, as well as in the Coast Ranges, 

 there are several varieties of bear, wildcats, and bobcats without number, 

 and the mountain lion. Also a number of varieties of deer, in great abun- 

 dance. Even the lordly elk is to be found; to be admired and passed by, 

 however, since a well-considered game law protects him throughout the 

 year. 



A point worthy of note is the uniform distribution of game over the 

 State. There is no county, and indeed no locality beyond the actual sub- 

 urbs of the larger cities, that is not generously peopled with its appropriate 

 wild things. The intimate adjustment of mountain wilderness to populous 

 valley brings some of the finest hunting in North America within two or 

 three hours' travel of the principal business centers of the State. 



