WOOD DUCK 145 



Marin County, or anywhere along Laguna de Santa Kosa, Sonoma 

 County, even where quite a number of people lived in the vicinity and 

 where there was a good deal of travel along the streams. Often the 

 ducks were found in small tributaries and diminutive ponds along 

 these waterways. The last one killed in this vicinity was taken on 

 October 23, 1898. Mr. A. Jackson reports that a limit of "Wood Ducks 

 could often be obtained fifteen years ago along the Napa River, but 

 that now not a single "Wood Duck is to be seen there. 



George Neale reports (October 1, 1914) that he used to hunt 

 "Wood Ducks on Elk Slough, Yolo County, where he has bagged thirty 

 or forty in an afternoon. A few are still to be found there. W. "W. 

 Richards states (October 15, 1913) that "Wood Ducks were formerly 

 common on Sherman Island, Sacramento River, where "as many as 

 a hundred" were shot in a single day. The last one killed there was 

 shot about 1908. Streator (1886, p. 90) records the species as rare 

 near Santa Barbara but says that birds were occasionally met with 

 beyond the Santa Ynez Mountains about ten miles from that city. 



Practically no Wood Ducks are to be found in these old haunts 

 at the present time. An individual is occasionally reported as being 

 seen in the locality above mentioned by Mailliard, and in the vicinity 

 of Gridley, Butte County; but beyond these, and an occasional one 

 reported by a collector or market hunter, the species is now almost 

 unknown. Dr. W. P. Bade reports that he saw numbers of Wood 

 Ducks on the Sacramento River on a trip from Tehama to Chico in 

 1905. "When the same trip was taken in 1911 not more than six were 

 seen. The more recent records of its occurrence are as follows 

 Ramona, San Diego County, November, 1905 (Sharp, 1906, p. 75) 

 Redlands, San Bernardino County, October 2, 1909 (Willett, 1912a 

 p. 24) ; Banning, Riverside County, April, 1907 (Willett, loc. cit.) 

 Oxnard, Ventura County, November 6, 1905 (Grinnell, 19066, p. 29) 

 Reedley, Fresno County, April, 1910 (Tyler, 19136, p. 17) ; Stani 

 slaus County, fall of 1910 (J. Mailliard, 1911, p. 49) ; Live Oak, 

 Sutter County, November 28, 1914 (specimen in Mus. Vert. Zool.) 

 near Castroville, Monterey County, October 20, 1908 (Silliman, 19156 

 p. 207) ; near Laytonville, Mendocino County, November, 1913 (F. C 

 Clarke, MS). Mr. J. S. Hunter, Assistant, State Fish and Game 

 Commission, has stated to us that whereas this species came to the 

 market in considerable numbers several years ago, not more than 

 two or three have been seen during the past few years. Four hundred 

 and forty Wood Ducks were recorded as sold in the markets of San 

 Francisco and Los Angeles in the season 1895-1896 (Calif. Fish 

 Comm., 1896, p. 40) . The records of sale in the markets of San Fran- 

 cisco during the season 1910-1911 show a total of six birds. 



