Bird Banding in Northern Michigan 83 



BIRD BANDING IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN 

 DURING THE SEASON OF 1920 



BY DAYTON STONER 



Bird banding, as has many another phase of zoological 

 science, has had its inception in a rather sporadic and ill- 

 defined manner. And, like most things, it has undergone 

 a process of evolution during which time various modifica- 

 tions and vicissitudes have been encountered. 



So far as the writer is aware Audubon was the first 

 person in America to attempt bird banding. He writes as 

 follows: " I attached light threads to their (young Phcebes 

 in the nest) legs; these they invariably removed, either 

 with their bills, or with the assistance of their parents. 

 I renewed them, however, until I found the little fellows 

 habituated to them ; and at last, when they were about to 

 leave the nest, I fixed a light silver thread to the leg of 

 «ach, loose enough not to hurt the part, but so fastened 

 that no exertion of theirs could remove it." The next 

 season, " Having caught several of the birds on the nest, 

 I had the pleasure of finding that two of them had the 

 little ring on the leg."* 



Since the first attempts at bird banding, considerable 

 development and progress are to be noted, particularly 

 since 1908, when the first concentrated movement in this 

 work was undertaken by the New Haven Bird Club. Pre- 

 vious to this time some headway had been made in Europe 

 where banding was indulged in about 1899 and beginning 

 with 1902 a few individuals in the United States engaged 

 in this phase of ornithological endeavor in an effort to 

 throw some light on the travels of birds by means of at- 

 taching to them inscribed metal bauds. 



It was soon found that the efforts of only a few persons 

 in so large a field would avail little and the matter having 

 been brought to the attention of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union in November, 1908, it was considered with fa- 



*Audubon, John James, American Ornithological Biography. 

 II, 1834, 126. 



