DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL SUKVEY. 155 



customs at any port of the United States can be notified that the per- 

 mit has been issued. Special inspectors, who can, when necessary, 

 examine consignments immediately upon arrival, have been appointed 

 at six of the most important ports, viz, Boston, New York, Philadel- 

 phia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Finally, the list 

 of species which may be imported without permits has been materially 

 extended. During the first three months after the law went into opera- 

 t ion permits were required for practically all foreign animals, birds, 

 and reptiles. On September 13, 1900, however, an order was issued 

 by the Secretary of Agriculture, which exempted on and after Octo- 

 ber 1, 1900, 30 of the largest and best known animals, 3 well-known 

 groups of birds, and all reptiles. The object of this order was to 

 avoid the trouble and annoyance incident to securing permits for the 

 importation of well-known harmless species. It was intended that 

 this list should include no species that could not be identified without 

 the aid of experts, but as a few animals requiring permits have been 

 brought in under the names of one or two species in the excepted list, 

 further slight modifications may be necessary. 



During the year 186 permits were issued, covering the entry of about 

 350 mammals, 10,000 birds, and 38 reptiles. The reptiles include 

 only those arriving during the first three months of the fiscal year, 

 and the number of mammals is much smaller than it would be had 

 there been no order of exemption. Among the birds were 626 pheas- 

 ants, 4,237 quail, about 1,000 other game birds, and 4,147 cage birds. 

 Among the importations of special interest may be mentioned a 

 young giraffe from west Africa, several chimpanzees, and some Cuban 

 flamingoes. 



The numbers given are somewhat in excess of actual importations. 

 Applications for permits frequently contain merely estimates of the 

 number of animals or birds expected, and, through deaths en route or 

 failure on part of foreign agents to fill orders, the number actually 

 arriving in any consignment is apt to fall short of that designated in 

 the permit. 



The law has accomplished the main object for which it was enacted, 

 namely, the exclusion of the mongoose and similar pests. Moreover, 

 through its enforcement certain important information has been 

 obtained regarding the importation of live game birds and of cage 

 birds for exhibition. It appears that a considerable trade in Old World 

 pheasants is conducted with the Province of Ontario, the birds being 

 imported chiefly by way of Detroit and Niagara Falls ; there is also a 

 regular trade in live Chinese quail at the port of San Francisco, where 

 more than 4,000 birds from Hongkong were brought in for market pur- 

 poses and sold to Chinese residents of the city between December, 

 1900, and June, 1901. Cage birds are imported chiefly from Germany, 

 Australia, China, and Japan, through the ports of New York and San 

 Francisco, and many parrots from Mexico and Central America are 

 landed at New Orleans and San Diego. 



So far as known to the Department, only 3 specimens of the mongoose 

 were imported during the year. One of these arrived at Philadelphia 

 on the steamer Urania, from Jamaica, on May 20. Within twenty-four 

 hours it was killed and deposited as a specimen in the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Sciences. A second mongoose reached San Francisco in 

 June, 1901, and was promptly destroyed. A third was reported from 

 Los Angeles, Cal. , in June, but investigation showed that it had arrived 

 several months previously from some port on the Gulf coast, and had 

 died in January. So far as known at present there are no live speci- 



