212 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



food or the desire to kill them for sport. Accordingly, during the 

 past year, Dr. Judd has been pursuing such investigation. lie has 

 now in view a bulletin on the food of the Gallinpe, and will include 

 with these the woodcock as a bird of special interest from the fact 

 that owing to the high esteem in which it is held as an article of food, 

 and the lack of adequate laws for its protection, it is fast vanishing 

 from the earth. This work is well advanced and may be expected at 

 an early date. Bnlletins on the food of waterfowl and shore birds are 

 in contemplation, and some work has already been done in these 

 groups. 



PROTECTION OF BIRDS AND GAME. 



During the year work under the Lace}' Act has been continued 

 along three main lines — (1) publication of information on game protec- 

 tion; (2) improvement of the inspection service connected with impor- 

 tation of foreign birds and animals; and (3) cooperative work in 

 restricting interstate shipment of game contrary to law. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The compilations and synopses of game laws issued from time to 

 time have been distributed widel}^, and are in constant demand. 

 With a A'iew to making the ever-changing provisions of the State laws 

 better known, a digest of the game laws for 1901 and two posters 

 showing close seasons in the United States and Canada were distrib- 

 uted in September, about the beginning of the hunting season. A 

 revised edition of the laws protecting nongame birds was published 

 later. Circulars Avere also issued containing the game laws of the 

 District of Columbia, regulations for importation of reptiles into 

 Hawaii, and for the introduction of the eggs of game birds into the 

 United States. The annual directory of State officials and organiza- 

 tions concerned with game protection was prepared for the Yearbook 

 of the Department and afterwards issued separately. Finalh', a pop- 

 ular account of the woodcock and wood duck, by Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 the first of a series of special papers on game birds, was also published 

 in the Yearbook. 



IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN SPECIES. 



During the year 287 permits were issued for the entry of about 200 

 mammals and 50,000 birds, an increase of 101 permits and 43,000 

 birds, and a decrease of 150 mammals, compared with the transactions 

 in 1901. The figures are, however, subject to revision, as the num- 

 ber of birds actually imported is often less than that called for in the 

 permit. There has been a decided increase in the number of birds 

 entered at New York, while the number imported at San Francisco 

 has decreased, particularly in the case of Australian species. This 

 decrease is attributed to the long-continued drought in Australia and 

 the consequent difficulty in securing birds there. Among the most 

 noteworthy mammals imported may be mentioned a musk ox captured 

 near the mouth of the Mackenzie River and entered at San Francisco. 

 This specimen, the first musk ox in captivity in the United States, is 

 now in the collection of the New York Zoological Society. A number 

 of North African ostriches, the first of this species of ostriches to be 

 brought in for i)ropagation, were imported for the ostrich farm at 

 Pasadena, Calif. 



Importations maj' be divided into two general groups — game birds 



