246 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing musty hay, either old hay, or hay which had been put up during 

 wet weather, but observations on the refuge did not support this 

 theory and the real cause remains uncertain. 



Niobrara Reservation, Nebr. — At the beginning of the year the 

 herd included 11 buffalo, 28 elk, and 2 deer. During the winter 4 

 of the elk died. With the addition of 3 buffalo and 8 elk calves, the 

 herd now numbers 14 buffalo, 32 elk, and 2 deer, or a total of 48 head. 



The herd has practically reached the limit of the present inclosure, 

 and, beginning December 15, feeding became necessary in severe 

 weather, as the grass had been eaten off during the summer. The 

 hay is cut on the reservation by the warden, and the expense of feed- 

 ing is thus practically nominal. 



.Sullys Hill Game Preserve, N. Dak. — Under the additional ap- 

 propriation of $5,000 for the improvement of the game preserve in 

 Sullys Hill National Park, N. Dak., a new contract was let for the 

 construction of an 88-inch woven-wire fence some 6 miles in length for 

 the inclosure in the park, the contractors having found it impossible 

 to proceed under the first contract. New bids were called for and 

 a contract let for the construction of the fence at a price somewhat 

 less than the appropriation now available. Under this contract 

 the ground was cleared along the line of the fence during the winter 

 and the work of construction taken up as soon as conditions in spring 

 permitted. Plans for next year will include building the necessary 

 headquarters, barns, and buildings, and stocking the reservation with 

 a herd of elk and other big game. 



transfer of game. 



Owing to severe weather and the necessity of concentrating atten- 

 tion on the feeding of elk, no effort was made to transport any 

 animals from Jackson Hole this season. Through cooperation of the 

 Department of the Interior and the Forest Service 100 head of elk 

 were transferred from Yellowstone National Park. Fifty of these 

 were placed on national forests in Colorado; 25 on the Wind Cave 

 National Park, S. Dak. ; and 25 were shipped to the Montana Bison 

 Range. Six buffalo also were transferred from Yellowstone Park 

 to Wind Cave Park in June. 



NATIONAL BIRD RESERVATIONS. 



The number of bird reservations was increased during the year by 

 the addition of the Big Lake Reservation in Arkansas, established 

 under Executive order of August 2, 1915. This makes 70 reserva- 

 tions established to date. Of these the Pribilof Reservation, Alaska, 

 has been transferred by act of Congress to the Bureau of Fisheries, 

 in the Department of Commerce ; the Blackbeard Island Reservation 

 has been abandoned as a national reservation and leased to the State 

 of Georgia, and the Niobrara Reservation thus far utilized chiefly 

 for big game, leaving 67 reservations maintained primarily for birds. 



Under the limited appropriation available for maintenance of 

 reservations, warden service for longer or shorter periods of time 

 has been provided by the Bureau of Biological Survey for about a 

 third of the reservations. Through cooperation of the Reclamation 

 and Forest Services, protection has been afforded birds on about as 



