216 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



varioiiH i)lMces, connectini!; and completing work of previous years. 

 Western Arizona also will be visited for the purpose of collecting 

 material to comi)lete former field Avork, and the explorations in Alaska, 

 Avhich were unavoidably interrupted last season, Avill be continued in 

 the interior west of Cook Inlet and at the base of the Alaska Penin- 

 sula. If practicable, an extended reconnoissance along the lower 

 Mackenzie River from Great Bear Lake to the Arctic will be under- 

 taken in the spring for the purpose of determining the northern range 

 and distribution of various boreal animals and plants, and to sup- 

 plement the work already done in the Hudson Bay and Great Slave 

 Lake regions. A report entitled "A biological investigation of the 

 Hudson Bay region" has gone to press, and Avill appear as North 

 American Fauna No. 22. 



ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY. 



Another visit to California to study the food habits of birds is in 

 contemplation for the coming year. Observations covering another 

 fruit season, and also the late winter and spring months, when birds 

 are reported to feed upon buds and blossoms, are necessary to com- 

 plete those so well begun last year. No one season accurately repre- 

 sents the average conditions of climate, crops, insect enemies, and 

 other contingencies which affect the general result in such an investi- 

 gation, and no matter how closely the conditions may have been 

 studied, the results of a single season's work would be too narrow a 

 basis upon which to ground final conclusions. In some parts of this 

 State the bee-keeping ind-ustrj^ is of considerable financial importance. 

 The bee keepers, like the f]-uit growers, have accused certain birds of 

 doing harm to their business; in this case, however, by eating the 

 stock itself — the bees. It is desirable that systematic observations be 

 made on the ground by a competent observer, and stomachs collected, 

 as was done in the case of the birds frequenting the fruit orchards. 

 It is designed to embody the results of these investigations, when 

 finished, in a bulletin on the economic relations of the birds of the 

 Pacific coast. 



For several years work has been in progress on the food habits of 

 several other groups of birds, notably the fl^^catchers, thrushes, swal- 

 lows, and titmice. As fast as stomachs of species belonging to any 

 of these groups have been received, they have been examined and the 

 results tabulated. When their number is sufficient to form a basis 

 for safe conclusions, reports on the food will be published. Work on 

 the flycatchers and thrushes is in an advanced stage of progress, and 

 its completion may be looked for at an early date. Investigations of 

 the food of several other groups are also being steadily carried for- 

 ward, and will form the subjects of later publications. A new and 

 revised edition of the woodpecker bulletin is in contemplation, as, 

 since the i^ublication of that work the number of additional stomachs 

 received and examined is as large as the number forming the basis of 

 the bulletin. A report of the investigation of birds on a Mar3dand 

 farm is now in press, and will soon appear as Bulletin No. 17. 



GAME PROTECTION AND IMPORTATION. 



Plans-for the year 1903 contemplate a broader and more effective 

 enforcement of the provisions of the Lacey Act. The methods by 

 which the various States secure protection for their bit*ds and game 



