ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY BIRD-MIGRATION INQUIRY 149 



the number — a wrong number is fairly certain to be revealed 

 by some inconsistency between the data of marking and of 

 reappearance. If it is said that errors must occasionally 

 escape detection, we may point out that in the long run no 

 undue importance will ever be placed on a single exceptional 

 record : our precautions, however, are redoubled in the case 

 of records from abroad, or of any others which are of con- 

 siderable individual interest. Incomplete or inaccurate records 

 are excluded from our reports. 



A large number of birds are naturally recorded from the 

 places of their marking, and the interest of such records 

 depends on the lapse of time and on the other circumstances 

 of the case. All such records are, however, included in this 

 report, with the exception of records of birds obtained at the 

 locality of marking on the same day (or within the flightless 

 period, in the case of young birds) under circumstances of no 

 particular interest. Such records may, however, be noted 

 among the data of marking (under "remarks") in case. the 

 bird reappears later : but if the bird is killed, or deprived of 

 its ring, at this early stage, it is usually cancelled as if it had 

 not been marked at all, although the ring, for fear of con- 

 fusion, is not used again. In the case of ordinary "re- 

 appearances " also, the ring is not used again, but it is of 

 course left on a bird which is captured and then liberated, 

 for peculiar interest attaches to the second or third re- 

 appearance of a single bird, and we have indeed cases of a 

 bird reappearing half a dozen times or more. 



III. Details of Results. 



As already stated, we give below details of all the " re- 

 appearances " notified to us up to the time of writing. These 

 reappearances are classified under the headings of species, 

 except that records dealing with hand-reared or imported 

 birds and the like are kept apart (" Appendix "). 



Each record, or set of records about one bird, is headed 

 by the number of the "case" (this being the number of the 

 page in the " reappearance " record book already mentioned), 

 the sex if known, and the number on the ring. Then under 



