REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 97 



powder without shot. All of these protective methods are proving very 

 satisfactory if used intelliueiitly and with the riill jyiirposc of obtain- 

 ing relief. Because of tlie success attained the warden is receiving the 

 cooiieratioii dl' many i-iic growers in protecting both the rice and the 

 waterfowl until tlic open sea.sou e.stablistied by the government. 



California could most effectively I'id herself of the rice antl duck 

 proldem l)y asking the I'nited States l)ei)artment of Agriculture, and 

 the California State Legislature to tix an open season to conform with 

 both Oregon and Nevada, where the season is October 1 to January 15. 

 Tills would permit the rice growers to h-gally protect their crops where 

 it might l)e found lu'cessary. It would also allnw the residents of the 

 extreme Northern California counties to kill some waterfowl before 

 these birds leave on tlieii- southei'u migrations. These residents claim, 

 and .justly so, that they are discriminated against, as by the tinu^ of our 

 existing open s(\Tson the Avatorfowl have nearly all left for the lower 

 valleys. 



RIVER PATROL. 



The launch patrol on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and 

 tributaries is most efficient. With the addition of the fast cruiser 

 ''Rainbow," whose speed is twenty-six miles an hour, the patrol is able 

 to more than double its cruising radius. The phenomenal run of striped 

 I'ass in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers during the closed 

 season for nets demonstrated that few, if any, nets have been used dur- 

 ing the closed season. 



STATE FAIR EXHIBIT. 



The Fish and Game Commission's exhibit at the State Fair at Sacra- 

 mento, August 30 to September 9, 1919, was the most pretentious yet 

 attempted and proved to be the biggest attraction at the fair. A capable 

 engineer was retained to draw the plans and ^Ir. AVm. F. Dabelstein, an 

 artist of San Francisco, executed them. The whole north end of the 

 new Agricultural Building was given over to the exhibit. The main 

 feature of the exhibit was a cyclorama of the Sierra with IMounts 

 Shasta, Lassen and AVhitney looming uj) in the background and in the 

 fore<'round the south end of Lake Taliue at one end and a miniature of 

 the ]\rount Whitney Hatchery at the other. Several miniature water- 

 falls tumbled down the rocks into an artificial lake filled with trout. 

 The whole scene was made still more attractive by a system of lighting 

 which successively showed the gray light of dawn, the rosy tints of 

 sunrise and the light of full day. 



Arranged in front of the panorama were four large aquaria. Two of 

 them showed common introduced fish such as black and .striped ba.ss, 

 Iduegilled sunfish. crappie and catfish, a third showed different varieties 



