The silky bantam hen has proved to be a good "incubator" in the endangered-bird propagation program. "Silkies" 

 have successfully incubated both whooping and sandhill crane eggs, exhibiting throughout the long 28- to 32-day 

 period a remarkable mother instinct in "performance of duty." (Photo by C. Eugene Knoder) 



indicated no sigitificant change in sjiriiifr ix)pula- 

 tion levels from l!)():i to 1964. 



A banding program is in progress to provide 

 information on mortality rates and other subjects 

 of importance in woodcock management. During 

 the summers of 1!)63 and 1964, biologists banded 

 ahnost I.OOO birds at Moosehorn National Wild- 

 life Refuge in Maine. Large-scale banding on 

 tiie Louisiana wintering grounds was Ijegim in tlie 

 1964—65 season. 



Study of '■'■s'mging" woodcock completed in 

 Michigan. — A student at Michigan State Univer- 

 sity recently completed a Bureau-sponsored study 

 of factors affecting the reliability of woodcock 

 singing-ground counts. The results indicate that 

 climatic factors had little effect on singing activ- 

 ity. The likelihood of hearing all birds present 

 in an area .seenietl to decline as population density 

 increased. However, tiie decline was not great 

 enough to atl'ect the reliability of the survey for 

 management purposes. 



775-624 O — 65 



27 



