12 THE MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS 



Mississippi Valley in 1881, and whose endeavors 

 were incorporated with those of the A. O. U. Com- 

 mittee on its formation in 1883, became associated 

 early with the work under government auspices, and 

 continued these investigations until his death in 

 1 91 6. As a result of his endeavors augmented by the 

 efforts of others, there has been amassed in Wash- 

 ington the most comprehensive mass of data on the 

 subject ever brought together, much of which Pro- 

 fessor Cooke summarized in his many publications 

 dealing with the subject. 



Literature of the past fifty years dealing with 

 migratory movement in birds is truly enormous and 

 must be left without further comment. It remains 

 to notice briefly the growth of bird-banding as ap- 

 plied to this study. Sporadic attempts to mark in- 

 dividual birds so that they might be identified later 

 began over one hundred and twenty years ago, and 

 have ranged from tiny bells, bits of colored yarn, 

 marks made with indelible inks or paint on certain 

 feathers, metal disks glued to the wing or tail 

 feathers, plain rings of wire and celluloid, and strips 

 of metal on which were stamped texts from the 

 scriptures, to bands of aluminum marked with a 

 serial number and the name and address of the per- 

 son or organization responsible. Lincoln has called 

 attention to a great gray heron {Ardea cinered) cap- 

 tured in Germany in 17 10, which carried on the 



