REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS 65 



birds were not properly crated, due to the failure of the shipper to carry 

 out Mr. (-erber's express instructions, fifty per cent of the birds died 

 en route. All the expenses attending their purchase, crating, and 

 express charges from Austria to Sacramento, were borne by Mr. Gerber, 

 who was determined that at least one personal effort should be made to 

 introduce these most desirable game birds into California, ife has now 

 about two dozen in his large aviary (known familiarly as "The Roost") 

 at Sacramento, where he hopes to breed them during the coming spring, 

 and from the increase liberate some in those sections that seem best 

 adapted to their needs. 



In the years 1904 and 1905, we again secured permission, through 

 Dr. T. S. Palmer, in charge of Game Preservation, Biological Survey, 

 Washington, D. C, to have transported from Alaska to this State a suf- 

 ficient number of ptarmigan to properly demonstrate whether or not 

 they would find a congenial habitat in the Shasta and Tahoe regions. 

 Permits were secured for three different individuals, in the hope that 

 one of them might be able to bring back a few pairs. We contracted to 

 pay from $8 to $10 per pair, but regret to say that not a single bird was 

 received. 



We are glad to report that the practice of bringing Chinese quail into 

 this State fur market purposes has been discontinued, through the 

 assistance of the authorities at Washington. A good many have been 

 brought in at different times that were intended for purposes of propa- 

 gation, yet none seemed to survive, no matter where liberated or what 

 protection had been given them. The Chinese have a theory that the 

 quail come from frogs, and it is noteworthy that even Chinese 

 merchants, who, on other things, seem to be as well balanced as any 

 European, adhere to this belief. Some ten dozen that had been seized 

 from a Chinese restaurant, where they were to be used in conilict with 

 the law r , were liberated in Mendocino County on a large tract of land, 

 where every protection is accorded wild game. It was confidently 

 believed that the birds would thrive there if in any place in the State. 

 They were noticed near the spot of liberation for a few weeks only. 

 Shortly afterwards they entirely disappeared. 



About fifty dozen bobwhite quail have been brought into this State in 

 the last two years. Two shipments came from H. A. Boies, Hudson, 

 Michigan; one from Massachusetts; another consignment from 

 Alabama, and the fourth came from Texas. In exchange were given 

 both valley and mountain quail. Of the latter less than five dozen were 

 obtainable. The bobwhite have been liberated over a wide range; that 

 is, a dozen birds in widely separated sections of the State. They seem 

 to have shown a marked development in one section only — Sacramento 

 County, on the Del Paso Rancho, near the city of Sacramento, where 



5 — FC 



