REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF ITSII COMMISSIONERS 61 



going first, and only 8 reached New York alive. They were taken across the continent 

 to San Francisco in safety, but three more were lost before reaching Sonoma, where 

 Mr. Poppe arrived on the 5th of August, 1872, with only five of the smallest of the 

 83 fish with which he started. Ponds had alreadv been prepared, and the surviving 

 carp were placed in them at once. They did well from the first, and, according to Mr. 

 Poppe in the report mentioned above, they spawned the next spring, by which time 

 they had reached a length of 16 inches. It wa- estimated that in May (1873) there were 

 in the pond- over 3,000 young carp. The young tish were sold to farmers throughout 

 California and adjacent states, and sono- were -Slipped even to Honolulu and Central 

 America. The report gives a list of persons in Sonoma County who undertook the 

 culture of the tish, and states that at that tine (presumably L878) Los Angeles. 

 Bernardino, and the adjacent counties in tin- southern part of the State were well sup- 

 plied with the fish, and reports were coming in from all quarters that they were doing 

 remarkably well 



There seem- to be some <iuestion, also, a- to whether the fish introduced by Mr. 

 Poppe were a pure strain, for Professor Baird, who examined some specimens that were 

 sent to him, says: "These are scale carp, apparently somewhat hybridized; at Least, 

 they do not present the characteristics of the pure breed brought by Mr. Hessel." 



PERMITS FOR LIVE GAME. 



At the last session of the Legislature, with the hearty cooperation of 



the Audubon Society, Section 637a of the Penal Code was amended to 

 include within its provisions the protection of all non-game hirds, 

 except those that are consider- d d< -tractive: bluejay, English Bparrow, 

 sharp shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, duck hawk, gnat horned owl, and 

 California linnet. For violations of this law quite a number of convic- 

 tions have been secured and fines paid. We find that the law is 

 meeting with universal approval, as it gives the farmer or tenant the 

 right to kill, on his own premises, any of the non-game birds when 

 found destroying berries, fruits, or crop-. Our experience indie; 

 that the farmers are appreciating the true value of the birds, and rarely, 

 if ever kill them. The offenses are committed almost exclusively by 

 the foreign element, most of whom are not citizens. 



This statute also provides for the issuance of permits to collect birds, 

 their nests and eggs, for scientific purposes. Immediately after it 

 became a law, we were besieged with applications for such permits. 

 The urgent necessity for the law was quickly apparent. Nests had 

 been robbed indiscriminately and parent birds even killed by thousands, 

 under the pretext of scientific study. Many young people seemed 

 simply possessed with a desire to amass a collection — a larger number 

 of birds or their eggs than their neighbors. We soon found it necessary 

 to make a rule that no application would be considered until the 

 applicant was indorsed by the head of the zoological department of 

 either of the universities, the Academy of Sciences, or some other 

 educational institution. This had the effect of reducing the number 

 of collectors about seventy-five per cent, which practically restricts the 

 use of permits to those who are connected with some educational or 



