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WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



a visit to a neighboring town. One morning 

 while crossing one of the bridges over the 

 river there, in looking down upon the water, 

 I saw a most unusual sight, the surface of the 

 stream from bank to bank and for several 

 hundred yards, as far as the bend in the 

 river permitted my vision to extend, was 

 covered with dead and dying fish. I esti- 

 mated there was a fish for each one and a 

 half square feet of surface. In many places 

 there would be four or five dead fish in 

 that space. ' It was something of a surprise 

 to me that the stream could yield such a 

 quantity of fish in the limit of space men- 

 tioned. There was nothing to indicate a con- 

 centration, though probably there were more 

 fish inhabiting that part of the river within 

 the city limits owing to the sewers of the city 

 emptying into it supplying more or less food. 

 The fish were nearly all of one species, catfish, 

 apparently of an average length of ten or 

 twelve inches. There were a few carp and 

 some smaller fish locally called white fish, 

 also known as "split-tails" owing to the sharp 

 forking of the tail, the upper lobe being 

 considerable longer than the lower lobe. 



I was informed by a resident that similar 

 occurrences of dead fish had happened twice 

 before in the preceding three months. As to 

 the cause, this man had no explanation, but 

 from other sources I learned that a certain 

 manufacturing establishment located on the 

 banks of the river was engaged in turning 

 out some form of war supplies, in the produc- 

 tion of which there accumulated some waste 

 solutions which were periodically emptied 

 into the river. The periods of disposition of 

 the waste solutions agreeing with occurences 

 of the dead fish, the responsibility for the 

 wholesale killing was laid to the manufactory. 

 As the fish possessed no food value of any 

 importance their destruction in this way was 

 not regarded as a serious matter, but rather 

 as an unavoidable affair incidental to the war 

 needs of the government. On the other hand 

 if the fish of the river that escaped from the 

 disaster could have given expression to their 

 views of the incidents their protest would 

 probably have recited the great dangers and 

 difficulties the members of their class ordi- 

 narily have to contend with in working out 

 the cycle of their existence, which is enough 

 for them to bear without having to suffer such 

 an overwhelming affliction, and concluding 

 with an appeal to the laws of the state for 

 protection from a repetition of the slaughter. 



At the risk, possibly, of making this essay 

 seem somewhat monotonous, in carrying out 

 the point I wish to make, I shall now consider 

 some of the troubles of bird life that seem to 

 harmonize with nature's general plan of 

 existence for all organic life on this sphere. 

 Unlike the fish, birds as. a rule possess 

 parental interest in their offspring. The labor, 

 anxieties and care attending the rearing of the 

 young to the stage of life when they can pro- 

 vide for themselves, embrace duties and sac- 

 rifices which are no insignificant additions to 

 the list of difficulties which the piscatorial 

 family have to work out in the course of 

 their existence, the greater part of which the 



majority of bird life is also subject to. Birds 

 have so many enemies that their entire 

 existence from nestling to the end of life is 

 passed under a continual fear of attack. 

 A great percentage of unnatural mortality in 

 bird life is attributed to the cannibalistic and 

 savage character of some forms of their own 

 kind, hawks, owls, etc. While foxes, cats 

 and many other animals, including snakes, 

 would not be far behind in the amount of 

 death percentage chargeable to them. Finally, 

 the acts of mankind towards the feathered 

 family have been of such murderous and un- 

 friendly nature that all its members fly and 

 seek to hide themselves from bipeds, big or 

 small. A great many birds, if they main- 

 tained a black list of their enemies, would 

 head it with man, as being the most deadly and 

 inconsiderate and even cruel, for much of his 

 killing is done in what he calls "sport." If 

 a person wants any evidence of how birds 

 regard this condition that follows them 

 through life, they have only to take note of 

 their actions when feeding. If the bird under 

 observation happens to be a seed feeder, it 

 drops in its flight to the place where its de- 

 sirable food may be. Instead of immediately 

 starting to feed, as a rule it will first stretch its 

 head up and look in all directions for the 

 presence of an enemy. If it should happen 

 to detect one within a distance that implies 

 danger, the bird will not only recognize the 

 enemy but the menace to its welfare as well, 

 and will depart without eating. Should the 

 "coast be clear," however, the bird with 

 lightning like rapidity will snatch up a seed, 

 then while working it in its mandibles to free 

 it from its husks stretches its head up, look- 

 ing this way and that, alert that no enemy 

 shall take it unawares. This action is fol- 

 lowed with every seed the bird picks up. 

 By close observation of bird habits, wherever 

 undertaken it will be noted that much of the 

 birds' time is passed in search for danger. 

 Perhaps it may be said they have by ex- 

 perience strongly developed the principle of 

 "safety first." A bird may be perched in 

 some "tree top or other prominent place and 

 singing as if most happy and contented with 

 its condition in the world, at the same time 

 both of its eyes are open and quick to detect 

 the approach of danger. 



Yet with all this handicap in working out 

 their existence the feathered family seem to 

 enjoy life and are tenacious of it. None of 

 the cares, sacrifices or dangerous duties of 

 life imposed by nature are shunned or 

 slighted, but are carried out in a spirit of 

 loyalty, contentment and apparent happiness, 

 not unworthy of emulation by the highest 

 members of the animal kingdom. 



For all of the balance of the members of the 

 Vertebrate branch of the animal kingdom in 

 a wild state from the little shrew up, there 

 is a continuous menace of death, and the 

 numerous vicissitudes of life to which they 

 are subjected vary but little from those 

 described. The dullest mind with little 

 thought can recall how man seeks to ex- 

 terminate all species of animal life which he 

 regards as being destructive, or obnoxious; 



