THE " BRITISH BIRDS " MARKING SCHEME. 205 



having been reported by post by people who knew 

 nothing of the scheme. I think it is of great importance 

 that our " ringers " should turn their attention to catch- 

 ing up birds and recording the recovery of those that 

 are ringed. This applies chiefly to small birds, dis- 

 appointingly few of which have been reported. Small 

 birds can be caught up in a variety of ways without any 

 harm coming to them, and if they are ringed, the number 

 can be noted and the bird let go again. The number can 

 generally be seen without removing the ring by holding 

 the bird up to the light. 



The results of trapping ringed birds in this way would, 

 I am sure, be most valuable. We could learn, for instance, 

 where individuals of " resident " species spent the 

 autumn and winter, and we could discover, perhaps, 

 where the young nested, and whether the same individuals 

 returned to the same nesting-place. Unless this is done 

 I fear that the results from the ringing of small birds are 

 not likely to be very successful. So far as the larger 

 birds are concerned I have little doubt that we shall reap 

 a harvest of useful facts. 



With regard to the future of the scheme, I should like to 

 propose that next year, in any case, we should again mark 

 all kinds of birds, both large and small, and I feel sure that 

 my readers would co-operate in the same hearty fashion 

 as they have this year. A difficulty, however, presents 

 itself in that the costs of the inquiry have this year 

 completely outgroAvn the financial resources of the 

 Magazine, which, not being of a " popular " nature, 

 cannot be expected to support the very considerable 

 expense attendant upon the manufacture and issuing of 

 so large a number of rings and the keeping of the mass of 

 records in such a way that any number can be traced 

 at a moment's notice. There are, I know, many of my 

 readers who are keenly interested in the project, and I feel 

 sure that funds will be forthcoming to carry it on. I shall 

 be glad to send a balance-sheet in due course to all those 

 who care to subscribe to the expenses of the scheme. 



