ORN ITH 
SvERTES 
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
‘ BroLocicaL SURVEY, 
Washington, D. C., March 9, 1912. 
Sm: I have the honor to transmit herewith, oe publication, a 
revision of Bulletin No. 35 of the Biological Survey, on the Distribu- 
tion and Migration of North American Shorebirds, by Wells W. Cooke, 
assistant, Biological Survey. The original edition was issued Octo- 
ber 6, 1910. 
Many species of shorebirds inhabit the United States or pass 
through our territory in migration. These birds possess considerable 
economic importance, and as other wild game like ducks, geese, and 
swans diminish in numbers their ‘value for‘food and as a means for 
sport will increase. Large numbers are annually killed, and unless 
prompt measures are taken adequately to protect them some of the 
larger and more important kinds are likely to become extinct, espe- 
cially in the region east of the Mississippi River. A knowledge of the 
summer and winter abodes of the several species and of the routes 
they take in migration is essential to intelligent legislation in their 
behalf, and, accordingly, all the known facts in regard to this part 
of their life history are here brought together. 
Respectfully, 
Henry W. HensHaw, 
Chief, Biological S: : 
Hon. James WI1son, ap gical Survey, 
Secretary of Agriculture, 
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