BUREAU OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 85 



Survey Enters Control Work: The Survey from the first 

 days of its existence had occasionally made studies bearing 

 upon the relation of mammals to agriculture and grazing 

 but not until the nineties did it come into active contact with 

 the depredations of predatory animals. The increasing 

 amount of damage which such animals caused the western 

 cattle herds forced state legislatures to turn their attention 

 to rinding means of control. At first, various bounty sys- 

 tems were tried and the states as they came to frame their 

 bounty laws turned for advice to the Biological Survey, 

 which in a sense became a clearing house for information. 

 But it was not long before the states came to realize that 

 the bounty system was too small an effort to cope with such 

 a serious situation. 



Meanwhile, the Survey in 1905 at the request of the 

 Forest Service had agreed to make a study of the wolf 

 problem on the grazing areas within the national forests. 

 The results of this investigation were published in 1907 by 

 both services. During the next few years the Bureau con- 

 ducted a number of such investigations. When the failure 

 of the bounty system was recognized the pressure became 

 increasingly strong for the Survey to enter the field in a 

 more active way. Finally, in 1914 Congress appropriated a 

 small sum to the Survey for experiments and demonstra- 

 tions in control methods. 12 



About this same time the demands of the farmers for 

 protection against various rodents which preyed upon their 

 crops forced the Survey to turn its attention to rodent con- 

 trol measures. Starting in 1909 13 as a small addition to 

 the " food habits research " clause in the annual appropria- 

 tion act for the specific purpose of making experiments in 

 destroying noxious rodents, the appropriation has increased 



"38 Stat. L. 434. is 35 Stat L . 1051. 



