"RINGING" STARLINGS. 299 



December, 1 9 II , and the rest more recently . On February 

 5th, during very hard frost, only two out of ninety birds 

 were last winter's, and two of December, 1911, although 

 some of the latter might have been overlooked among 

 the twenty-five or so with quite recent rings on. On 

 February 9th, of seventeen birds in the trap not one 

 had been " ringed " before. I think these last facts 

 prove that the Starling population here was constantly 

 changing, especially so during the hard frost. It is also 

 probable that most of the birds marked during October 

 and November, 1911, soon moved away, as only eight, 

 or 9.6 per cent., are recorded again between January 28th 

 and February 11th, 1912, the period of hard frost, when 

 five hundred and fifty-six fresh birds were marked. A 

 few, however, may have been overlooked, as I did not 

 have time to examine every " ringed "' bird in the cage, 

 but only looked at the number in the case of somewhat 

 worn rings. 



It is interesting to note that I only caught six of the 

 " two-winter " birds a second time this winter, a fact 

 which also seems to suggest that they were only passing 

 through on migration, as if they had stopped long they 

 would certainly have been taken in the trap more often, 

 especially during hard weather.* 



It is impossible yet to tell where the birds " ringed " 

 in the winter 1911, and recaptured in the autumn and 

 winter 1911-12, have their summer quarters, but as there 

 are now over seventy of these at large some evidence 

 on this point ought to be soon forthcoming. Some 

 probably did not leave the close neighbourhood, as a 

 few " ringed " at the same time were killed during the 

 summer. 



The following record is of some interest, if only as a 

 curious coincidence : Of fourteen birds " ringed '" on 

 January 28th, 1911, three were retaken on the same 

 date, 1912, and were not seen at any other time. 



* I have on several occasions found that a particular Starling has 

 entered the trap for several days in succession, or even twice on one day. 



