ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY BIRD-MIGRATION INQUIRY 147 



of the claspless pattern — simply bands folded into a circle, 

 the edges being merely pressed together. The other rings 

 are provided with clasps such as are used at Rossitten — two 

 unequal ends are left to project outwards side by side where 

 the circle meets, and the one can be folded down over the 

 other ; the edges of these rings are also turned outwards 

 as flanges. Some of our earlier rings do not conform to 

 the above descriptions. The following is a list of the sizes 

 with some of the kinds of birds for which they can be 

 used : — 



\ — Finches, Swallows, Tits, Robin, Lark, Sandpipers, 



Lesser Tern, etc. 

 y\ — Thrushes, Starling, Lapwing, Snipe, etc. 

 I — Woodcock, Jackdaw, Black-headed Gull, Kestrel, Teal, 



Stock-dove, etc. 

 T 5 6 — Rook, Crows, Owls, Wood-pigeon, Guillemot, Wigeon, 



etc. 

 f — Herring-gull, Mallard, etc. 

 ^ — Gannet, etc. 

 I — Heron, etc. 

 (All our rings are made by Mr Samuel Drake, Halifax.) 



Scope. — Up to the present time our Inquiry has not been 

 limited to any particular species, but has extended to all 

 British wild birds, whether supposed to be migratory or not. 

 But it is probable that at an early date we shall concentrate 

 our efforts on some of the more repaying species. A few 

 of our rings have been used for birds liberated from captivity, 

 hand-reared wild-duck, imported game-birds, and the like, 

 but records obtained for such birds are kept apart from the 

 general data of our Inquiry. The actual work of marking 

 is undertaken by ladies and gentlemen scattered all over the 

 British Isles, but living mainly in Scotland and notably 

 in Aberdeenshire. Most of them rely chiefly on young 

 birds found when still unable to fly, varied by occasional 

 chance captures of adult birds. A few, however, engage 

 systematically in bird-catching during the winter months : 

 the chief means employed are simple clap-nets, automatic 

 cage-traps, or other harmless appliances ; or catching roosting 



