202 
WILD LIFE PROTECTION FUND 
and the northwestern portion of Harney County. The main 
point is that these birds were formerly very abundant all 
through the southeastern section of the State, but wherever 
the State has been settled to any extent, or where people 
are living, the birds have disappeared. 
“In regard to a five-year closed season for sage grouse 
in Oregon, will say that I have talked this matter over with 
some of our people, and the one matter that seems hardest 
to combat is the fact that in the three counties in south¬ 
eastern Oregon, Lake, Malheur and Harney, there is prac¬ 
tically no upland game shooting at present except sage 
grouse. In some sections of these counties the birds are 
fairly abundant, but in other sections they are nearly gone. 
The question arises then as to whether it would be better 
to try for a long closed season throughout the whole state, 
or to try for a five-year closed season in all counties except 
Lake, Harney and Malheur. I think it would be a very 
easy matter to pass this law if the three counties were 
omitted, but if the entire state was included, we would have 
a good deal of opposition from the Senators and Represent¬ 
atives in that part of the country. Let me know what you 
think about the matter. 
“I feel that we should undertake a five-year’s closed sea¬ 
son in Oregon on the Columbia Sharp-tailed Grouse, which 
is commonly known as the Prairie Chicken here in Oregon. 
There are very few of these birds left, and unless the sea¬ 
son is closed, they will be entirely exterminated.” 
California : 
Joseph Grinnell, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University 
of California, Berkeley. 
“As meeting your request of September 6, we are send¬ 
ing you under separate cover a map which shows the range 
of the sage hen in California. As far as I know there has 
been no important change in the extent of this range with¬ 
in the history of the white man, save as pertaining locally. 
There is no doubt whatever but that there has been very 
great decrease in certain places, for instance, in Long Val¬ 
ley, Mono County, where up to 1896 the birds were reported 
to have been found in very great numbers. They are still 
here, though reduced. 
“The map shows stations of known occurrence within the 
past two years. The reports pertain not to spots, but to 
the general region in each vicinity. 
