Apni, 1H21. 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 



79 



turn to nest near the haunts where they 

 h^arned to fly. 



"This occurred early in t;ie nineteenth 

 century, and was tihe first known case 

 in America of bird banding. Since that 

 time this means of securing- information 

 on the movenuMits and life history of 

 migratory bird>s has been used by many 

 societies, and every fall thousands of birds 

 fly south bearing a narrow ring, stamped 

 witli a iuim])er, about one of its legs. 



"So valuable is this work, especially 

 with game and insectivorous species of 

 birds, that in 1920 tlie United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture took over the 

 experiments being conducted l)y the Am- 

 erican Bird Banding A.ssociation, the so- 

 ciety's work having outgrown its avail- 

 able resources. Since it is the returns 

 from bird banding that furnisih the data 

 (lesiretl in tliis branch of research, it is 

 of prime importance that the methods 

 em})loyed be improved and that the per- 

 centage of birds under observation be 

 increased. To assist co-operators in this 

 work, the department lias published De- 

 pcU'tment Circular 170, Instructions for 

 r>ird Banding, which is just availal)le for 

 (li.-;trit)ution. 



'It i^, the plan of the Biological Sur- 

 vey of t;he department, which is super- 

 \ ising the bird-banding work, to advance 

 this method of research along two prin- 

 cipal lines: first, the banding of fledg- 

 lings as formerly practiced; and second, 

 the systematic trapping and banding of 

 adult' birds. As the banding of fledglings 

 ihas the advantage of affording valuable 

 niformation on t/ie ages of birds, the 

 survey wishes to encourage these activ- 

 ities, "but it desires to lay special emphasis 

 on the added value of the systematic 

 trapping of adults. 



"With the establishment <>f a well- 

 connected chain of trapping stations 

 throughout the United States and Canada, 

 regular 'returns' are confidently expec- 

 ted by department specialists with reports 

 of retrapping birds that had been banded 

 at the original and other stations. Data 

 thus afforded are already indicating the 

 exact lines of migration of individual 

 birds, the speed of travel, and innumer- 

 able items of interest, many of which 

 have a direct bearing upon the study of 



life histories and the administration of 

 the Migratory Bird Treaty Act with 

 which the Department is charged. 



"The department issues bands of two 

 types to co-operators in the work. One 

 type is the split ring band for all small 

 birds, aiul the other is the flat strip 

 l)and that is adjustable for all large birds. 

 For general land-bird trapping t;he so- 

 called Government 'sparrow trap' has 

 been found the most satisfactory. The 

 bulletin contains details of construction 

 of this trap. It also discusses other 

 methods of trapping, the operation of 

 traps, handling and releasing birds, and 

 filling out reports. Federal trapping per- 

 mits for this work are reciuired under 

 the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Appli- 

 cations for permits and requests for the 

 bulletin should be addressed to the Bu- 

 reau of Biological Survey, Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D.C." 



In Canada, applications for permits to 

 carry on this work sihould be made to 

 the ^ Commissioner, Canadian National 

 Parks, Department of the Interior. Ot- 

 tawa. Persons holding federal permits 

 to take birds for scientific purposes re- 

 (piire no other permit. It would be 

 needless duplication for records of band- 

 ing to be kept in the U. S. and Canada, 

 as^the birds do not respect our boundary 

 in their migration; consequently the rec- 

 ords for the continent are beinc kept 

 at Washington. 



Problems that Can be Solved by 

 Bird Banding. 



1. How fast do the individuals of any 

 species travel on their periodic migra- 

 tions; that is, how many miles per day 

 will anv one bird average during these 

 journey's and what is the total time con- 

 sumed in a trip? 



2. Does any one flock continue in the 

 van or is the advance made by successive 

 flocks passing one over t)ie other in al- 

 ternate periods of rest and flight? 



3. Do individuals of any species always 

 follow the same route, and is it identical 

 for both spring and fall flights? 



4. Do migrating birds make the same 

 stop-overs every year to feed? 



5. How long do birds remain ui one 



