64 REPORT OF STATE ROAR I" OF FT>TI COMMISSIONERS. 



To Lieut.-Col. Joseph Garrard, U. S. A., and the men of his command 

 we are under obligations for valuable services rendered in the summer 

 of 1903, and to Maj. John P. Bigelow Jr., U. S. A., for similar services 

 in 1904. In addition to assisting us in the distribution of the fry, they 

 have assisted materially in the enforcement of the game laws of the 

 State. 



During the past two years, the mountain streams of ^iadera County 

 have been stocked from this hatchery. During the summer of 1903 

 this work was done under the direction of the county game warden, 

 8. F. Oyler. In the summer of 1904 the work was in charge of Kenneth 

 L. Hughes, specially appointed by the Board of Supervisors of Madera 

 County. Mr. Hughes also made a most successful plant of lilack bass 

 in Crane Valley Lake. 



SONG AND INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 



We would most urgently recommend the passage of a bill at the 

 coming session of the Legislature to protect all song and insectivorous 

 birds. While no doubt there will be more or less opposition to such a 

 measure, owing to a misunderstanding of the value of birds to the horti- 

 culturist, we believe that California, a State in which the horticultural 

 interests are so large and so varied, should take a step forward and 

 protect all song and insectivorous birds, none of which do material 

 damage, when compared to the actual good they do. It has been truly 

 said that they are the best friends of the farmer. Tliey destroy myriads 

 of injurious insects, such as caterpillars, bugs, tlies, moths, and their 

 larvae. Statistics gathered by the United States authorities at Wash- 

 ington from this and other States of the Union show conclusively the 

 wisdom of giving them protection. For example, 238 stomachs of 

 meadowlarks taken throughout the year contained 73 per cent of 

 insects and only 14 per cent of grain. It is further shown that the 

 useful birds comprise 95 per cent of the feathered denizens of field and 

 woodland. 



But the number of birds destroyed by farmers, who erroneously 

 believe that such birds are working an injury to them, is small com- 

 pared to the thousands that are slaughtered by the foreign element in 

 our State, to Avhom everything is game that has feathers. In addition 

 to their great value as insect-destroyers, they are a most attractive 

 feature in every field and woodland. Unless some action is taken for 

 the protection and preservation of our songsters and other useful birds, 

 this State will soon be rendered as unattractive, bv reason of their 

 absence, as certain parts of Europe, where bird life has been practically 

 exterminated. 



