Occasional JS^otes. 117 



seemed to be able to find its way about. It was evidently 

 in search of scraps, for it haunted back yards. Eventually it 

 made its way into a fowl-house, the door was closed, and 

 it was captured, and turned out to be one of the above- 

 mentioned species of birds. We now have it in our collection 

 at the museum. 



F. W .FiTzSiMONS, Director, Port Elizabeth Museum. 



Port Elizabeth, 



Feb. 1st, 1909. 



14. Ringed Birds. — The following circular has been sent 

 us : — 



'' The winter-quarters and routes of our migrant birds 

 are until now yet unknown, and there is only one method 

 which leads to positive knowledge on this account: the 

 marking of birds by aluminium rings, a method which has 

 been tried with success in Germany and in Denmark, as a 

 House-Stork marked in Pomerania was caught in Africa, 

 15° S. of the Equator. The Hungarian Central Bureau for 

 Ornithology has now also begun the marking of young 

 Storks, Herons, Gulls, and Swallows. The aluminium ring 

 is fastened around the leg of the bird and it bears in each 

 case the inscription ' Budapest,' followed by a number which 

 corresponds in the entry in the Register-book of the Hun- 

 garian Central Bureau for Ornithology, Anyone catching 

 such a marked bird, or hearing of the capture of such, is 

 kindly requested to send the ring on to the Hungarian 

 Central Bureau for Ornithology, Jozsef-korut 65, Budapest 

 VIII., Hungary, accompanied by a notice stating the locality, 

 time, and particulars of capture. 



" Otto Herman, 



'' Dirpctor of the Hungarian Central 

 Bureau for Ornithology." 

 *' Budapest, 

 July 1908." 



15. NiDiFiCATiON OF Red-billed Ox?ecker.-I Cannot 

 find any mention in the Journal of the South African Orni 

 thologists' Union of the nesting of the Red-billed O.^pecker. 



