178 



THE GAME BREEDER 



fondness for healthful country life and 

 a warm place in their hearts for the 

 most beautiful and interesting of our 

 country's fast disappearing wild animal 

 life. 



In years gone by our sturdy pioneers 

 depended largely upon the furs of wild 

 animals for clothing for themselves and 

 families and also for the furnishing of 

 their homes. While the march of prog- 

 ress has made these same furs largely 

 articles of adornment, the advent of the 

 automobile and its general use together 

 with the increasing custom and desire 

 for out of door Hfe adds an ever-grow- 

 ing demand for fine, warm furs. 



The ever onward rush of our civiliza- 



tion, the converting of nature's "silent 

 places" into the haunts of. men has nat- 

 urally crowded our fur bearers back like 

 "Lo the poor Indian" almost to their 

 extinction, therefore it becomes impera- 

 tive that man come to their assistance if 

 this and future generations are to wear 

 furs. 



Surely the practical fur farmer has a 

 golden opportunity before him. 



[The propagation of fur bearing animals 

 requires the same amount of industry which is 

 needed to save the game and make it plentiful 

 and cheap in the markets. Since the fur 

 bearers are destructive to game many of them 

 should be bred in captivity. Where the fox is 

 preserved as a sporting proposition he should 

 be bred wild. — The Editor.! 



THE CALIFORNIA VALLEY QUAIL AND INTRODUCED 



GAME BIRDS. 



By George Neale, 



Assistant, California Fish and Game Commission. 



Civilization and population forcing it- 

 self westward and into communities 

 where game is or was once abundant, 

 make new measures necessary in order 

 to protect the existing game fauna of 

 California. When these measures are 

 not taken, history shows that certain 

 species, those most easily killed or cap- 

 tured and those whose -reproduction is 

 less prolific, will be eventually extermi- 

 nated. 



The band-tailed pigeon is a good ex- 

 ample of a species nearing extinction. 

 This bird was once almost as numerous 

 in California as the passenger pigeon 

 was in the eastern and middle states. 

 Only a remnant of the former numbers 

 now remains. The records of the cloud- 

 obscuring flights of the passenger pigeon 

 seem like a fable, except to those who 

 have seen and know. The few remain- 

 ing mourning doves, once so numerous 

 in California, furnish another example of 

 the passing of species. The western 

 mourning dove, sometimes called Caro- 

 lina dove, is nearly as strictly migratory 

 as waterfowl. Especially in northern 

 California is the dove a resident species. 

 It nests throughout the State but its win- 



ter home is the southwestern portion of 

 the United States as far as Mexico. The 

 writer has seen the fall migration through 

 New Mexico and along the line, of the 

 Mexican Central Railroad from the Rio 

 Grande nearly to Mexico City. It is 

 true that some doves remain in the south- 

 ern valley portion of the State the whole 

 year, as do a few migratory ducks and 

 other birds. 



Our laws have not given the dove 

 proper protection. We have permitted 

 them to be killed in the nesting season 

 and on the nesting grounds, in what we 

 term the open season. If this killing 

 were permitted on the northern breeding 

 grounds of the ducks and other water- 

 fowl, what a protest would be made 

 from California ! From my own obser- 

 vation it is a conservative statement to 

 say that the dove and band-tailed pigeon 

 have decreased eighty per cent, in north- 

 ern and central California in the last 

 twenty-five years. 



The most flagrant cause of the near 

 extermination of species is to be found 

 in the unthinking or uncaring attitude of 

 the people of the State. An added fac- 

 tor to be considered is the fact that cer- 



