128 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Only a limited amount of work was done in California during 

 the year, but important facts on distribution were ascertained, 

 which enabled many corrections to be made in the zone map of the 

 State. 



GAME PRESERVATION AND INTRODUCTION. 



With the increasinf^ settlement of the country and its growing 

 population, our big game animals constantly diminish in number, 

 and unless suitable protection is given them the time is not far 

 off when big game, except in game preserves, will be practically extinct. 

 The chief function of the Federal Government in this connection is to 

 stimulate and coordinate the action of the several States and to 

 aid in solving the various protection problems as they arise. The 

 same duties and similar problems are present in connection with the 

 preservation of the birds of the country, both game and nongame. 

 The danger of practical extermination is, however, more remote, 

 especially in the case of nongame birds. To the Department, also, 

 has been assigned the duty of preventing entry into the count ly of 

 injurious birds and mammals. The danger that species will be 

 imported that may, like the English sparrow, prove to be serious 

 pests, is averted only by the system of inspection maintained at 

 the principal ports of entry. 



IMPORTATION OF BIRDS AND MAMMALS. 



No serious attempt was made this year to introduce prohibited 

 species. A mongoose surreptitiously entered at Everett, Wash., was 

 discovered and killed a few weeks later, and two mongooses which 

 it was sought to import from Habana were denied entry. 



An incidental result of the establishment of a check on importa- 

 tions of eggs of game birds was the disclosure of the importation 

 of terns' eggs from Jamaica for sale in the New York markets in a 

 half-decomposed state as the eggs of Australian boobies. The 

 Department united with the Treasury Department in suppressing this 

 fraudulent traffic. 



STARLING INVESTIGATION. 



Reports have been received from time to time of the establishment 

 and spread of the starlings that were liberated in Central Park, New 

 York, twenty years ago. The latest observations show that these 

 birds now range north to Springfield, Mass., and south to central 

 New Jersey. As this bird has proved so great a pest in other countries 

 that its further importation into the United States is specifically 

 prohibited, an agent of the Department was directed to make a 

 thorough investigation of its spread and the economic effect thereof. 

 The results of this investigation will be given in my next report. 



