152 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



of Texas. It has now reached such a stage that probably by the close 

 of this season sufficient data will have been secured to warrant the 

 publication of a preliminary report. The field parties, as heretofore, 

 were in charge of Vernon Bailey, chief field naturalist. The section 

 of the State covered this year included a line from San Angelo to the 

 Pecos River and the region west of the Pecos from the Rio Grande to 

 the New Mexican boundary. The higher mountains lying within this 

 region, such as the Chisos, Davis, and Guadalupe ranges, which vary 

 in altitude from 8,000 to 9,500 feet, and the summits of which are 

 covered with coniferous forests, received particular attention. The 

 Chisos Mountains, a detached range near the Rio Grande, proved 

 to be of especial interest, since they were found to be inhabited by 

 several Mexican species which liad not been previously detected in 

 the United States. Some work was also done in northern Texas and 

 in New Mexico, with a view to filling gaps in the field work of i)revious 

 seasons. The investigations in Mexico, in charge of E. W. Nelson, 

 were continued, the State of Yucatan being the field of operations. 

 Several points in the interior were visited, and a trip was made to the 

 island of Cozumel on the east coast. Important collections of mam- 

 mals and birds were secured, among which those from Cozumel are of 

 special interest. 



The explorations in the Hudson Bay region, outlined in the last 

 annual report, were successfully carried out b}^ Edward A. Preble. 

 The party visited several of the Hudson Bay posts and succeeded in 

 penetrating to a point some distance north of Fort Churchill on the 

 west side of Hudson Bay. The specimens collected have been par- 

 tially examined, and a report on the trip is now in course of prepara- 

 tion. A similar trip was planned for the spring of 1901, and the 

 party left Edmonton, Alberta, about May 1, with instructions to pro- 

 ceed northward by way of Athabasca River to Great Slave Lake, 

 making stops at several points along the route. The material gathered 

 on these two expeditions will be of unusual interest, not only in the 

 stud}' of the distribution of species occurring along the northern 

 border of the United States, but also for comparison with the material 

 obtained in similar field work in southern Alaska. Mention sliould 

 be made of the cordial cooperation on the part of the Hudson Bay 

 Company in arranging for these two trii)s and in furnishing means of 

 transportation. Without this cooperation it would have been imprac- 

 ticable for the field parties to have penetrated far into the regions to 

 which they were assigned. 



ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF BIRDS. 



The total numbei- of bird stomachs in the collection June 30, 1901, 

 was 36,780, an increase of 2,483 over the number that had been 

 received to June 30, 1900. Of these, 2,230 were examined during the 

 year as against 1,989 examined during the previous year. The number 

 of stomachs examined in each of the principal groujis was as follows: 



Thrushes - 641 



Titmice 326 



Sparrows 297 



Orioles - - 224 



Woodpeckers - 220 



Flycatchers 141 



Swallows 125 



Miscellaneous 263 



Total --- 2,236 



The data obtained from the examination of the 297 sparrow stom- 

 achs were utilized in the report on the food of sparrows which has been 

 in course of preparation for several years but is now completed. Spe- 



