PREFACE 



In the fall of 1912 it was decided that the staff of the California 

 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology should begin to apply a portion of its 

 knowledge of the vertebrate natural history of the state along prac- 

 tical lines, more particularly in an active effort towards conserving 

 the native fauna. In the course of extended field work throughout 

 California we had been forcibly impressed with the rapid depletion 

 everywhere evident among the game birds and mammals, but at the 

 same time we found reason to believe that a careful study of the 

 situation would reveal some effectual means of retarding this down- 

 ward trend. 



After observing the course of legislation for several months during 

 the season of 1913, and recalling the popular indifference we had 

 encountered in various parts of the state toward existing game laws, 

 we had come to the conclusion that however numerous or stringent 

 the game laws might be, they of themselves could not be expected to 

 furnish adequate protection. The people at large must be apprized 

 of the facts, and shown the need for, as well as the most effective means 

 of, conserving our game resources. 



About this time our plans became known to a Berkeley gentle- 

 man who was already intensely interested in any and all agencies for 

 the protection of wild life. It was through the financial aid tendered 

 by this man, whose name I am pledged to withhold, that the beginning 

 of our work along economic lines was made possible. The actual task 

 of writing the present book on the status of the game birds of Cali- 

 fornia was begun on June 1, 1913, when Dr. Harold Child Bryant 

 joined the staff of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology under salary 

 provided as above indicated, and, in collaboration with the director 

 of the museum, devoted his time exclusively to this enterprise. 

 Bryant's services formally terminated on August 1, 1914, when he 

 was called to a position as director of education, publicity and 

 research, under the State Fish and Game Commission. He thereby 

 carried the slogan "Game Conservation through Education" into 

 a sphere of application the scope of which he has been able steadily 

 to enlarge and perfect. 



The work on the game-bird book was immediately taken up where 

 Bryant had left off, by Mr. Tracy Irwin Storer, and the latter, under 

 salary at first supplied from the anonymous source above alluded to, 

 and later by Miss Annie M. Alexander, has, again with the collabora- 

 tion of the director of the museum, faithfully and unremittingly 

 labored on the book until its completion at the end of 1916. 



[iii] 



