34 REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Propagation of Game Birds. 

 Little effort has been made to continue the introduction of foreign 

 game birds. Believing that sufficient attempts have been made to stock 

 the state with ring-necked pheasants, and that the game farm has not 

 proved its worth, the efforts at propagation on the farm have been 

 curtailed. Consequently, but few ring-necked pheasants have been 

 reared, and only a few hundred birds have been liberated. In order that 

 breeders might be furnished information as to the possibilities in quail 

 and duck breeding, the farm has been stocked with vallej- quail and 

 wild ducks and experiments carried on to determine the success which 

 can be obtained in artificially rearing them. The main justification for 

 a game farm appears to lie in its value as a station for carrying on 

 breeding experiments, the results of which will benefit game breeders, 

 rather than in its value as a practical means of increasing game. 

 Judging from the experience of other states it seems best that the 

 greater amount of effort be placed on the conservation of native species 

 rather than on the introduction of foreign ones which are apt to sup- 

 plant valuable native species, become pests, or introduce some infectious 

 disease. A detailed report on the activities of the Game Farm can be 

 found on pages 120-126. 



Fish Culture. 



In order that hatchery operations might be better administered the 

 office of the Department of Fish Culture was moved from Sisson 

 Hatchery to San Francisco in the fall of 1915. W. H. Shebley was 

 placed in full charge of the department and E. W. Hunt was appointed 

 Field Agent with the detail work of the hatchery and the car messenger 

 service under his supervision. G. H. Lambson, of the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries, formerly superintendent of Baird Hatchery, quali- 

 fied through civil service as superintendent of the Sisson Hatchery. 

 These changes have greatly facilitated the work of this department. 



The hatcheries of the state have propagated a larger number of fish 

 in this than in any previous biennial period. During the season of 

 1915 alone, 48,000,000 fish were planted in the streams of California, 

 a number sufficient to furnish every resident of the state with sixteen 

 fish (see Fig. 16). Eight hatcheries and six egg collection stations have 

 been operated to their full capacity and the present stations will have 

 to be enlarged and new ones installed in order to meet the increasing 

 demand for trout fry. An additional hatchery building has been 

 erected at the Sisson station, making five buildings in all. With this 

 added ecpiipment it is possible to hold the fry until they attain a better 

 growth and hence are better able to withstand the changed conditions 

 incident to planting. 



