Excavation of ruins.-Paragraph 3 of the uniform rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War, under date of December 28, 1906, to carry out the provisions of the act for the preservation of American antiquities, reads as follows:

Permits for the excavation of ruins, the excavation of archæological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity will be granted by the respective Secretaries having jurisdiction to reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, or to their duly authorized agents.

During the year seven permits were granted for the examination, excavation, and gathering of specimens, as follows:

To Prof. A. V. Kidder, of Harvard University, to make examination and excavation of ruins in the Chinlee Valley and the tributary canyons which enter it below the Mexican water and the canyons heading against the Navajo Mountains on its east and north sides, as continuation of explorations under similar permits granted by the department in 1913 and 1914. This locality is in the vicinity of the Navajo National Monument.

To Mr. Edgar L. Hewett, director of the School of American Archæology, Santa Fe, N. Mex., to make explorations and excavations necessary for the making of an archæological report upon the district lying between the north boundary of the Ramon Vigil grant and the Guages Canyon, on the Pajarito Plateau, N. Mex., and to collect specimens for the use of the Commercial Museum of Philadelphia, Pa., which institution collaborates with the School of American Archæology in this research work.

To the Smithsonian Institution, to make archæological reconnoissance of and, if deemed practicable, to conduct excavations and gather specimens on the public domain in Millard, Beaver, Iron, and Box Elder Counties, Utah, such collections to be permanently deposited in the United States National Museum.

To Prof. Livingston Farrand, president of the University of Colorado, to prosecute archaeological research on public lands under administration of the Interior Department in San Juan and Rio Arraba Counties, N. Mex., and in a strip of country 15 miles in width crossing Montezuma, La Plata, and Archuleta Counties (not, however, within the boundaries of the Mesa Verde National Park), and to collect specimens. This work is in the nature of continuation of research under similar permit issued in 1914 covering territory contiguous to the above.

To the University of Arizona, at Tucson, Ariz., to prosecute archaeological research within the territory south and west of Navajo Mountain and in the Sagi Canyons, in northern Arizona east of the Colorado River, and to collect specimens for use of the university, such work to be conducted under personal supervision

of Prof. Byron Cummings (formerly of the University of Utah), and the territory within which explorations take place not to overlap that covered by the above permit to Prof. Kidder.

To Mr. Charles H. Robinson, to gather archaeological specimens on the public domain within the so-called "Spanish Diggings" country, located east of the Platte River, in Converse, Niobrara, Platte, and Goshen Counties, Wyo., during August, 1915, such collections to be permanently deposited, one-half in the McLean County (Ill.) Historical Society Museum, Bloomington, Ill., and one-half in the Illinois State Natural Historical Museum at Springfield, Ill.

To Dr. R. B. Earle, to collect not exceeding 100 pounds of specimens of silicified wood from the Fossil Forest of Arizona (Petrified Forest National Monument) for the museum of New York University, and similar quantity for the museum of Hunter College.

Bird reserves.--All of the bird reserves have been created through reference from the Interior Department to the President of forms of Executive orders providing therefor. These reserves are regarded as in all essential particulars reservations of public lands for public use or other purposes, for which there are numerous precedents. The first specific act of Congress providing for the protection of birds by bird reserves created by Executive order was introduced by Hon. John F. Lacy, of Iowa, and became a law on June 28, 1906 (34 Stat., 536). This act made it unlawful to kill birds, to take their eggs, or to willfully disturb birds upon the reservations, and it provides a fine of not exceeding $500 or imprisonment for not exceeding six months, or both fine and imprisonment, for each conviction secured. This law was substantially reenacted in the new Penal Code, approved March 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1104), in the following language:

SEC. 84. Whoever shall hunt, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird of any kind whatever, or take the eggs of any such bird, on any lands of the United States which have been set apart or reserved as breeding grounds for birds by any law, proclamation, or Executive order, except under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time prescribe, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

During the year four new reservations for the protection of native birds were created, as follows:

Dungeness Spit and Ediz Hook, in Washington, created January 20, 1915. Mille Lacs, in Minnesota, created May 14, 1915.

Big Lake, in Arkansas, created August 2, 1915.

One reservation, Blackbeard Island, in Georgia, was abolished on May 25, 1915.

The reservations now existing are 70 in number, of which 68 are being administered under the direction of the Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture. The Pribilof Reservation in Alaska is administered by the Bureau of Fisheries of the Department of Com

merce, and the Canal Zone Reservation, Panama, by the Isthmian Canal Commission.

1 Transferred to Bureau of Fisheries.

• Approximate area.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

247.73 acres.
Unknown.

226.02 acres.
83 acres.
Unknown.

Do.

Under jurisdiction of Isthmian Canal Commission, Canal Zone. Strictly speaking, not a bird reservation, but birds are protected by Executive order.

Total reservations, including Canal Zone, 70.

Porto Rico.
Alaska..

Do.

Do.

..do..

Do.

do..

Do.

California.

Do.

8161°-INT 1915-voL 1- -9

As appears from this list, these reservations are scattered between Alaska and Porto Rico. After careful consideration, based upon representations made by this department, the Isthmian Canal Commission secured an Executive order for the protection of the native birds within the zone, which, in its punitive features, conforms to section 84 of the United States Penal Code. Jurisdiction over the Canal Zone reservation is, however, retained by the Isthmian Canal Commission instead of being placed with the Department of Agriculture, as is the case in all other Government bird reserves.

ELEEMOSYNARY INSTITUTIONS.

GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.

Movements of population.-On June 30, 1915, there were remaining in the hospital 3,076 patients, as against 3,062 remaining on June 30, 1914, an increase of 14 patients over the previous year. There were admitted during the year 656 patients. The total number of patients treated during the year was 3,718. The number of discharges during the year, including deaths, was 642. The daily average number of inmates was 3,032, as against 3,025 of the previous year, an increase of 7.

Improvements.-During the year the criminal department of the hospital has been surrounded by a 24-foot cement wall, which materially increases the safety with which this class of patients can be cared for. New dairy barns have been completed, with accommodations for 200 cows. These barns house the hospital herd, which has been developed carefully during the past few years, and which is now, relatively speaking, of pure Holstein stock. The herd insures an ample supply of very high-grade milk to the hospital, a very important element of diet, especially for the sick. A new piggery has been built, providing for a larger herd of hogs than in the past, which it can support to great economic advantage. At the close of the fiscal year the final contracts were let, which complete the remodeling of the power, heat, and lighting plant, which has been in progress now for some years. This remodeling comprised, in the main, the consolidation of the three-boiler plants into one, the substitution of alternating for direct current, the rewiring of a considerable number of buildings, the removal of the electric-light wires from the tunnels occupied by the steam pipes and placing them in terra-cota conduits by themselves, the substitution of electrical-driven for steam-driven pump, the installation of automatic stokers, coalhandling and ash-handling machinery, and soot blowers. These changes, while they have been extensive, were rendered necessary because of certain extremely dangerous parts in the previous installation, also for the purpose of putting the institution in a position which would enable it to expand by the addition of more buildings with the least possible cost for electrical installation and maintenance, and it is also expected that the plant will run to a very much greater economic advantage. In fact, although the work has not yet been completed, the advantages of what has already been done in saving of coal consumption is quite evident. The items mentioned are the largest items of construction which have been completed during the past year. Many other smaller items, however, have received attention, to wit: Quarters for employees have been improved, old quarters have been remodeled, considerable laundry machinery has been purchased, and in each instance with the most approved safety devices attached; the high-pressure fire line has been extended, and several minor improvements made in the fire protection of the hospital; the sewer system has been extended and brought into more complete connection with the district system of sewage, and many other minor matters have received attention.

An effort has been made during the past year to extend the industries for patients. A workroom was opened in the basement of Howard Hall, in which all of the brooms and whisk brooms for the institution are made, a large amount of repair work is done, and a considerable number of mats are turned out. Material has also