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July, 1912 PRESENT AND I*UTURE STATUS O1' CALIl?ORNIA VALLEY QUAIL 141 their destruction allows of an increase, but this factor having conditioned the quail population for so long a time is of less consequence than other factors. As there are no records of an epidemic of disease among California valley quail, there seems to be little immediate danger from this direction. "?)uail disease" and "coccidiosis," well-known diseases of other members of the quail family, present a grave danger, however. A knowledge of the extent to which valley quail are immune to these diseases would throw valuable light on this subject. The average hunter, although almost a negligible quantity twenty years ago, on account of the improved facilities for transportation and the improved firearms, has become a very important factor. A study of the laws of nature governing the numbers of quail shows that this bird might be able to withstand a small amount of destruction during the winter open season without danger of impairing the average numbers from year to year. It is when the destruc- tion during the year nearly equals or exceeds the annual crop, thereby destroy- ing the productive brood stock for another year, that the danger point is reached. A regulation of the amount of shooting based on the scientific determination of the normal death rate of the young and adults will eliminate all danger of the extermination of this bird by the hunter. A serious danger also, doubtless lies in the modification and destruction of the food and cover of this bird contingent upon the settlement of the country. The present status of the California valley quail calls for conservative action goverr/ed by a knowledge of those factors causing a disturbance of the balance. In other words, strengthen those factors which cause an increase in numbers and weaken or destroy those factors which cause a decrease in numbers, and the quail will become subservient to ot?r interests. The furnishing of plenty of food and cover, either by artificial feeding and planting, or by game preserves, the destruction of predatory mammals and birds, prevention of disease, and care- ful regulation of the amount of hunting to permit of the survival of a suffi- cient number of the productive brood stock to insure an undiminished annual crop, are factors within our control and on these depend the future of the California valley quail. BIBLIOGRAPHY Belding, L. 1890. Land birds of the Pacific district. Occ. Papers Cal. Acad. Sci., 2, pp. 1-274. Committee on inquiry of grouse disease. 1911. The grouse in health and in disease (Smith, Elder & Co., London), 1, pp. xxiiiq-512, 59 pls,, 3l figs. in text. Cooper, J. G. 1870a. Geological survey of California. Ornithology (State Printing Office, Sacramento), 1, pp. xiq-592, many figs. in text. 1870b. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proc.' Cal. Acad. Sci., 4, pp. 61-81. Coues, E. 1874. Birds of the northwest. U.S. Geol. Surv. Misc. Publ., no. 3, pp. 1-791. Fisher, A. K. 1893. Birds of the Death Valley expedition. U.S. Dept. Agric., Div. Biol. Surv., N. A. Fauna, no. 7, pp. 1-158. Forbes, S. A. 1903. On some interactions of organisms. Bull. Ili. State Lab. Nat. Hist., 1, no. 3, pp. 1-18.