548 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



shipped without regard to the State and Federal law. The ten chief 

 offenders were indicted in the United States district court for the 

 eastern district of Virginia. Two were convicted and fined $200 

 and costs each and the other cases went over to the November term 

 of court. 



A number of violations of the interstate law were referred to the 

 State authorities, and in practically all of them convictions were 

 secured and fines imposed ranging from $25 to $50. On information 

 from the New York game officials relative to certain imported for- 

 eign game in cold storage in New York City, to be shipped later to 

 Chicago, this bureau informed the Illinois authorities in order that 

 they might take the necessary measures to enforce their laws. 

 Through information given to the authorities of New York concern- 

 ing certain shipments from other States, an important case of viola- 

 tion of the New York law requiring bonds for stored game was dis- 

 closed, and conviction of the offenders with a substantial penalty 

 followed. 



OUTLINE OF WORK FOR 1912. 

 ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY AND MAMMALOGY. 



Work on the food habits of birds and mammals will be continued, 

 including field observations and the examination of stomachs and 

 tabulation of their contents. 



Cooperation with the Forest Service will be continued to devise 

 practical methods of protecting tree seeds and seedlings from the 

 attacks of birds and mammals during the reforesting of treeless areas 

 within our National Forests; also in destroying prairie dogs within 

 the National Forests and contiguous areas. Field observations and 

 experiments will be made to devise methods to prevent attacks on 

 orchard and nursery stock by field mice, pine mice, rabbits, and other 

 injurious rodents. 



Cooperation will be continued with the Reclamation Service in pro- 

 tecting dikes and fills from the depredations of burrowing animals. 



Investigations will be continued to devise methods for preventing 

 the attacks of crawfish on cotton and grain crops in the Southern 

 States. 



Field observations will be carried on in Utah and contiguous 

 States to determine the value of birds in checking the spread of the 

 newly imported alfalfa weevil. Investigations into the food of wild 

 ducks and geese will be continued, and a report will be published as 

 soon as possible. Investigations of the food habits of the flycatchers 

 and meadowlarks will be completed and reports published. Study of 

 the food of thrushes and crows will be continued. 



Experiments with traps and poisons for the destruction of English 

 sparrows will be carried on. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. 



During the coming year work will be continued on the biological 

 surveys of the lower Mississippi Valley States and of Alabama, also 

 of Montana and Idaho. It is expected that the field work of a 

 biological survey of Wyoming will be completed. It is hoped to com- 

 plete the field work in California so as to permit the publication of a 



