BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 671 



QUAIL DISEASE. 



The importance of reflating the importation of foreign birds was 

 exemplified in a striking manner during the past season at the time 

 of an outbreak of a higlily infectious quail disease {OolibaciUods 

 tetrao7iidarum). This disease spreads with great rapidity. When it 

 was originally discovered by the Bureau of Animal Industry in 

 1907, large shipments of birds were bein^ made from the West and 

 Southwest. The infection was carried from central Alabama and 

 southern Kansas northeastward to many points, even as far as 2s ova 

 Scotia, and attempts to check it proved of little avail. During the 

 present year, on account of the scarcity of birds, nearly all the stock 

 used for propagating purposes was im]:)orted from Mexico, and such 

 shipments came directly under the control of this department. Im- 

 mediately upon the discovery of the disease in February all ship- 

 ments from ]\Iexico were suspended and prompt information con- 

 cerning the danger of infection was furnished to importers and 

 shippers, with the result that the disease was discovered in only five 

 or six places — in Missouri, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New 

 York, and Connecticut — and so far as could be ascertained did not 

 spread beyond these points. 



NATIONAL BIRD RESERVATIONS. 



The national bird reservations now number 56, including the Pri- 

 bilof Reservation, which is in charge of the Department of Commerce 

 and Labor. Four new reservations were created during the year: 

 Forrester Island and Hazy Islands, in Alaska; Niobrara, on the old 

 Fort Niobrara Military Reservation in Nebraska; and Green Bay, 

 in Wisconsin. 



The administration of the reservations was better organized by 

 the appointment of inspectors for four districts: One for the Gulf 

 district; one for the reservations in Oregon, California, and eastern 

 Washington ; one for the reservations on the coast of Washington ; 

 and one for the mountain district. In addition a warden was ap- 

 pointed for Clear Lake Reservation, Cal., and special agents were 

 detailed to inspect the reservations in Bellefourche, S. Dak. ; Carls- 

 bad, N. Mex. ; the southern reservations in Florida; and Forrester 

 Island, Alaska. 



As in former years, permits were issued to trap on two of the 

 Oregon reservations, and the following fur-bearing animals were 

 taken: On Klamath Lake, 124 mink, 10 skunks, 11 weasels, 1 otter, 

 12 raccoons, and coyotes; and on the Malheur Reservation, 4,858 

 muskrats, 70 mink, 3 skunks, 2 otters, and 15 coj'otes. 



During the year the birds on the Florida reservations suffered 

 considerably from severe storms. At Passage Key about 700 nests 

 and eggs were destroyed. On Pelican Island most of the young birds 

 and eggs of the first nesting were lost, and practically all the old 

 birds left the reservation during a bad storm in January, returning, 

 however, in full force later on. Information received in the spring 

 indicated that the reservations were in excellent condition and had 

 fully recovered from their losses. 



No species has ever been introduced on any of the bird reservations, 

 with the exception of the European rabbit on Farallon Islands, Cal., 



