BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVET. 549 



report, with map, on the life zones of the State. The biological sur- 

 vey of the Canal Zone in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion will be continued. 



A report on a biological reconnoissance through northern British 

 Columbia will be prepared for publication. A report upon the birds 

 of Texas, now nearing completion, will be published ; also a bulletin 

 on the distribution and migration of the herons and ibises. 



The preparation of maps showing the distribution of the species 

 of North American mammals and birds, as well as the collection 

 and card cataloguing of information concerning their distribution 

 and habits, will be pushed as rapidly as possible. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



In addition to carrying on the various projects now under way, at- 

 tention will be given to a number of new matters. It may be neces- 

 sary to establish inspection of importations in Porto Rico on account 

 of a law adopted in that Territory early in 1911. It may also be 

 necessary to place restrictions on the importations into the United 

 States of monkeys, to guard against the danger of the introduction of 

 the disease trypanosomiasis. 



Operations connected with the enforcement of the Federal law 

 regulating interstate commerce in game will be continued and ex- 

 tended. Many waterfowl are illegally shipped from North Carolina 

 to northern markets, and the practice will be investigated and steps 

 taken to stop it. The passage of the Bayne bill in New York, by 

 closing the markets of New York to native game, will greatly fa- 

 cilitate this work. The shipping of deer and grouse to the Chicago 

 market from Michigan and Wisconsin, in violation of the laws of 

 these States, will be investigated. 



Several bird reservations now without warden service or supplied 

 only temporarily will be provided with regular wardens, including 

 probably the reservations in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, also 

 the Belle Fourche Reservation in South Dakota, and possibly some 

 of the Florida reservations. It is planned also to appoint inspectors 

 for several districts. Efforts will be made to establish a warden 

 service on Laysan Island during next spring and summer and to 

 have the Thetis visit the island again next winter. Steps will be 

 taken also to exterminate or at least reduce the numbers of rabbits 

 that now are a pest on the island. 



Attempts (unsuccessful last year) will be renewed to secure moun- 

 tain sheep for the National Bison Range in Montana. In coopera- 

 tion with the American Bison Society efforts to secure a suitable site 

 in South Dakota for a new bison range will be continued. The pre- 

 liminary steps have been taken, and early in the new fiscal year an 

 agent will examine the various localities that have been suggested. 



The problem of the preservation and restoration of the big game 

 of the country is receiving careful consideration, and several meas- 

 ures will be undertaken during the coming year along that line. 

 Efforts will be made to provide elk for one or two National Forests 

 in Colorado, for the Medicine Bow Mountains in AVyoming, and for 

 various points in eastern Oregon, provided they prove suitable for 

 elk. Through one of the principal associations of sportsmen it is 



