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[[stamped]] 16 [[/stamped]]

Summary.

During the period from August 16 to October 17, 1918 a careful study of the relation of wild ducks to rice culture was made in the Sacramento Valley California. About 130,000 acres were devoted to rice that year in the counties of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba.

Rice in this region was grown largely upon low lying lands, with alkaline soils, that have been unsuited for other forms of cultivation, and have not heretofore been utilized for agriculture. Considerable numbers of Pintails and Mallards breed here in marshes and sloughs and many more come here in late summer from other regions. These birds were attracted by the water and food found in the rice fields and when the rice filled began to eat the grain. The birds fed on moonlit nights or at dusk and daybreak. The first damage was done in areas where the stand of rice was thin but from there the ducks worked out into the heavier growth.

In experimenting with methods of controlling this damage it was found that while the use of aerial bombs that exploded among the birds without injuring them was a valuable means of driving the ducks out it soon lost its efficacy unless accompanied by actual shooting. As the duck's in question are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act it was necessary to grant permission to rice growers to kill ducks under suitable restriction before the opening of the legal hunting season, and to allow these same men to shoot at night when the season opened.

These measures were entirely successful. The rice destroyed by the birds was estimated to be worth about $13,500 while had these steps