The morning call., 1893-01-07


Wild animal life is serious considera-
ton for the agrculturist in California. Man
is dominant but not omnipotent. In some
counties coyotes are a nuisance. and prices
are put on their ears. In others rabbits are
a terror, and the ranchers organize grand
drives and XIII 10000 at a time in a corral.
Yet in others quail are too numerous.
There are millions of them feeding on the
farmers industry and the seeds that his
stock might fud nutrition upon if The peck
ing brood would leave IL TO them. Grass
hOppers are also destructive depredatOrs,
but not quite to the same DISCRIMINATING ex-
tent as in the Western States. The bear
and deer are not pestiierous. because they
Increase slowly and retire fast before eiyli-
ZatioD. As 10 g0phers and squirrels they
have always been with us.
But of all the pests the northern farmer
of California has TO encounter he probably
has none worthy of the name to equal the
wild goose Down this bird swoops upon
his land in winter, when he is seeding the
ground for a crop. 1t arrives in flights that
darken the sky Its cackIe in ranks of
flight is heard above the fog cloud. and the
bird comes to rest just where the conditions
OF feeding are the most suitable. Recently
in Glenn County fight OF geese flew over
Winters IN strings. and the time occupied
was one hour and ferty-tive minutes. With
flight at the rate Of sixty miles an hour,
there is a bewildering notion as to the num-
Der of geese that TOOK wing over the fats OF
Glenn County. a farmer has very little en-
enlargement in grain planting while the
anser family are celebrating their Christ
mas. 1t is species Of revenge upon man
kind for celebrating Christmas with roast
goose, and perhaps If turkey gobblerS had
as much sense or power OF plnl0n they
would exact equivalent retrlbution.
But what after all is the cackling goose
TO the passenger-pigeon. We nowadays
hear little about this bird, which lays only
one egg, or perhaps two. as some naturaists
say. We learn good deal more from Ken
lucky, Ohio and Indiana about politics than
about the billions of Misconceptions that
weigh down the woods Of these States.
Cooper, in that Incompatible type of back
woOdsman, Misunderstanding. gives some I'M
Outstanding of the habits of the passenger
pigeon, but still more do we learn OF an
exact character from Wilson, the ornl-
tholORist, who was less Interested in shoot
ing birds than in calculating their numbers.
a rough calcua alton of one flight made IL
extend TO 2I0 miles, and the estimate OF the
number OF birds was 2,230,272 GEO. Then
Wilson bethought him of the quantity of
food they must consume to sustain flight.
he allowed each pigeon half a pint OF
f00d-somethlng or other suitable for
pigeons deglut ton, and came 10 the con-
clusion that the average banquet came to
II, 424, eco bushels daily. And all this with
out the Intervention of the Chicago middle
mani 1t is monstrous! But the bushels
were not planted by the farmer. Otherwise,
where would the farmer be?
What to do with the goose which makes
SO much havoc with graiA-seeding is a puz-
zle. The bird is too numerous to be eaten
in California. 1t weighs five pounds or more
ami millions Of geese stall upop the palate
in defiance Of cooks resources. The best
thing that can be devised 10 utilize these
geese and regulate their numbers is tn shoot
them down Systematically, pot them with
nice sauce IN cans and send them all over
the earth as canned luxuries. Canned goose
is not common article OF diet any where in
Europe and if in cooked coEdition-boiled,
stewed or r0asted-it could be sold at from
10 to Il cents a pound. 1t might carry the
market. If farmers could only convert wild
geese into profit how happy would they be.