280 



RECREATION. 



out of reach of it. The only result was 

 that Indians and sheepmen had almost 

 a monopoly of deer killing during the 

 prohibitory period. I doubt if there were 

 any more deer in the Coast range at the 

 end than at the beginning of the 2 years. 

 A friend who stopped 2 weeks at a sheep 

 camp in Humboldt county, told me they 

 had venison during all the 2 weeks, and 

 as many as 6 deer at one time were 

 hanging in the camp; and that during the 

 prohibited period. 



When I began, in 1857, to hunt in Cala- 

 veras county, deer were as rare as they 

 are now, there having been a great de- 

 mand for venison in early mining times. 

 They soon became plentiful when beef 

 became cheap, and were really abundant 

 in 1885, when about 100 Washoe Indians 

 for the first time wintered in Calaveras 

 and soon nearly exterminated the deer 

 in that county and a part of Tuolumne. 

 A Mr. Williams told me he bought 1,200 

 deer skins fror. these Indians that -win- 

 ter, and they were said to have sold as 

 many more to other traders. They came 

 over the next winter and killed the most 

 of the remaining deer. A supervisor of 

 Calaveras, Mr. Stephens, told me a year 

 or 2 afterward that they were saving 

 their deer for the Washoe Indians and 

 when there were about 3 more these In- 

 dians would come for them. From 1857 

 to 1885 deer increased in Calaveras coun- 

 ty, though it was considered perfectly 

 proper to kill a deer whenever meat was 

 wanted during that time. 



Formerly the close season extended to 

 October 1st, by which time there was 

 little game in the mountains above 5,000 

 feet altitude and visitors from the valleys 

 and coast had gone to their homes ; con- 

 sequently during September there was a 

 universal disregard of the game law, and 

 there will not be much regard for it in 

 the mountains until Indians and stock- 

 men are compelled to observe it. It will 

 be difficult to make them do so, as they 

 roam over every part of the mountains, 

 not one-hundredth part of which is v^it- 

 ed by anyone else excepting a few ener- 

 getic sportsmen and explorers. A year- 

 ling deer is worth half a dozen old ones, 

 as it is a luxury, but an adult black- 

 tailed deer, our species, seldom or never 

 is. However, it is dangerous to shoot a 

 yearling deer, because of the difficulty in 

 determining the sex, especially if running 

 in thickets ; and a conscientious hunter is 

 liable to violate the game law unwitting- 

 lv. Unquestionably the game law in the 

 Sierras does not protect game; it simply 

 annoys the person whom it should not. 

 affect. 



Grouse are 'becoming scarcer in the 

 Sierras each year, for which sheepmen 



and sheep are mostly responsible. But 

 for them grouse would soon become 

 abundant. 



Mountain quails are not decreasing, ex- 

 cept perhaps slightly near summer re- 

 sorts, and along routes of travel, as they 

 are seldom molested by Indians and 

 stockmen. 



Doves are among the best friends of 

 the farmers. They breed from May into 

 September and during all the interven- 

 ing months. 



The State is greatly interested* in hav- 

 ing her young men learn to shoot, but it 

 looks as if their opportunity to do so 

 was becoming necessarily difficult. 



Lyman Belding. 



SHALL WE MAKE PETS OF WILD. BIRDS 



AND ANIMALS? 

 Dr. T. S. Palmer, 



Agricultural Department, Washington, 

 D. C, 



I have had some correspondence with Mr. 

 Schmid, a game dealer in your city, with 

 regard to the purchase of certain live birds 

 and animals and in one letter he quotes 

 you. 



I think it would be well for 'the League 

 and your Department to get together on 

 some general policy regarding this matter. 

 The Lacey law does not attempt to regulate 

 the shipment of live birds or animals 

 within the States or from one State to 

 another. Its provisions as to the -inter- 

 State traffic are all with relation to dead 

 birds or animals. 



Leaving this question out of discussion at 

 present, I should be glad if we could adopt 

 a policy of encouraging'a rational system of 

 keeping birds and animals in captivity. It 

 is true the privilege would be abused. Such 

 creatures would in many cases be kept in 

 small cages and improperly cared for. 

 Many other people, however, would take 

 proper care of them, would give them 

 plenty of room, good food and kind- treat- 

 ment. In such cases a bird or a squirrel, 

 for instance, is better off in domestication 

 than it would be in its natural state, for it 

 has no trouble in getting its food, nor is it 

 liable to be killed by hunters or by its natu- 

 ral enemies. Then, the more people see 

 and know of birds and animals the better 

 they like them and the less likely they are 

 to pursue and kill them when found at 

 large. 



Take, for instance, the albino squirrel I 

 have in my office. Hundreds of people who 

 have seen him here have said they would 

 never wish to kill another squirrel in the 

 woods. We have a mockingbird at our 

 country club, and people sit there and watch 

 him and listen to him by the hour. Then 

 they say: "How could anyone be cruel 

 enough to kill such a beautiful and inter- 



