United States Biological Survey: A compendium of its history, personalities, impacts, and conflicts

In 1885, a small three-person unit was created in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to gather and analyze information on bird migrations. Originally called the Section of Economic Ornithology, over the next 55 years this unit underwent three name changes and accumulated ever-increasing responsibilities for the nation’s faunal resources. Transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1939, this agency was merged with the Bureau of Fisheries in 1940 to create the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The following account details the chronology, directorship, and growth of the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey up to its renovation as the FWS. This account also profiles some employees of the Biological Survey.