\ 
State. conservation departments, and now is ‘a major function of four 
Federal agencies--the ‘Forest Servieé, Soil Conservation Sérvice; “the 
Tennessee Valley Authority and | the Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Of all these, the Fish and. Wildlife Service is most extensively 
occupied with wildlife management, and in retrospect it seems that 
throughout its history of nearly three quarters of a century the Service 
has been developing techniques thet now prove to be essential in wild- 
life technology. This development was, in-its oarlicr stages, entirely 
without reference to wildlife.management, a practice then scarcely 
imagined. In later years the. tie between scientific method and practical 
application has been much closer and the varied techniques fit irto the 
technology like parts of a weli- Meni machine. 
IDES TITY, RANGE, ANP MIGRATEON TICHIQUTS 
Among these techniques, those of classifying animals, working out 
their ranges, and tracing their movements were prominent in svarly 
activities of the Bureau of Biological Survey, now a part of the Fish and 
Wildlife Service, and are still continued. The Service has sent exploring 
expeditions to almost evory part of tne Republic and of other parts of 
Worth America, including Canada, Mexico, Guatamala, Panama, and our Ter= 
ritorial possessions. It has acenmanereea ropresentatir e and extensive 
collections essential to sound classification, and it has trained compet- 
ent taxonomists. Although not confined .to the Service, work along these . 
lines has becn carried om more intensively there than elsewhere, and the 
Fish and jildlife Service.is recognized es ne principal focus of such 
information relative to the: faune of North Amcrica . 
The classification of 6nimals is hasic to all further study. Its 
most practical rosult is a de adore systcom of names, which enables 
workers to learn what has been recorded about any particular species and 
to compare notes offectively with other investigators. The wildlife 
technician must accurately know what forms he is dealing-with; identifi- 
cation is the key to all that is knowm of relationships, distribution, 
and habits, end it onables him: tq shape his pmectice in the light of know= 
ledge that all investigators, cveryvhers, have accumulated truly an in-= 
estimable advantagc. 
Throughout its history the Fish and wildlife Service has been siding 
workers by making these critical identifications; it has further collected 
information on the geographic distribution of animals and intensively 
studied bird migration. In thse course of the migration work, millions of 
records from all sources haves been assombled, providing a moro satisfacto- 
ry basis for generalizatiors ‘than has’ ever beon aveilablc elscwherc. Tho 
technique of bird-banding has beon HEOP teas SaaS and extended, Its 
peculiar importance arises from th2 tracing of the movements of individual 
birds, thus making possible, in ‘oats long run, more accurate definition 
than has evor before buon possible, of migration routes, general bird 
flyways, and wintcr.and summer ranges of spscics. The scientific data 
bearing on tho ranges and movoments of birds are indisponsablo to proper 
conduct of wildlife managoment problems involving morc than a single State, 
2 
