176 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



minister 56 bird reservations and one or two big game reservations; 

 and to cooperate "with the several States in the protection of game. 



These duties, authorized by act of Congress of May 25, 1900, have 

 considerably broadened the field of work and have brought the 

 survey into close touch with several of the other executive depart- 

 ments and with most of the State fish and game commissions. Super- 

 vision of the importation of foreign birds is carried on in cooperation 

 with the Treasury Department, and in the maintenance of the bird 

 reservations cooperation of at least six other departments — Interior, 

 Treasury, Justice, AVar, Navy, and Commerce and Labor — is occa- 

 sionally necessary. 



Through cooperation with game commissions and associations of 

 the various States and through its publications the department has 

 been able to advance the cause of game protection materially, and in 

 some instances to mold public opinion on certain matters of general 

 interest. The last decade has witnessed a wonderful advance in game 

 protection in the United States, and in this movement the Biological 

 Survey has taken a prominent part. Native species have been almost 

 entirely eliminated from the cage-bird traffic and have been largely 

 eliminated from the plumage sold in this country for millinery pur- 

 poses. Restrictions on export and sale have greatly reduced the 

 enormous shipments of game to market which were so common a 

 few yeai's ago. A system of hunting licenses has been adopted in 

 most of the States, and the number of States which have provided 

 game commissions intrusted with enforcement of game laws has 

 increased from 31 in 1900 to 43 in 1912. 



DIVERSIFIED DUTIES. 



Under its present organization, the Biological Survey is charged 

 with such diversified duties as investigations relating to destruction, 

 migration, and economic relations of birds and mammals; preven- 

 tion of the introduction of species injurious to agriculture; mainte- 

 nance of about 60 reservations; solution of problems involving the 

 permanent preservation of buffalo, elk, antelope, and other big game 

 and of numerous species of birds. Recently a movement has been 

 started to intrust the department with the supervision of the protec- 

 tion of migratory birds, and bills providing for this new work have 

 been introduced in Congress and have been favorably reported by 

 the respective committees in the House and Senate. 



WEATHER BUREAU. 

 ENORMOUS DEVELOPMENT. 



Owing to the nature of its duties, the Weather Bureau is probably 

 the most widely known bureau of the Department of Agriculture, 

 and as the weather enters into practically every phase of human 



