°J9i3 ' '" *ves, American Bird Banding Association. 249 



it met with favor and the demand by members of the Union for 

 bands became so pronounced thai 5000 were issued prior to the 

 dose of i In' nesting period in MM)!). ( )f this number approximately 

 1000 were actually placed on birds, and there resulted from these 

 aboul •">(> return records by the end of the year. With interest 

 aroused, the time seemed ripe to give the movement ;i more con- 

 crete form than it had hitherto assumed, the result being that 



some thirty members of the A. ( ). l T . assembled in New York on 

 the evening of December 8, L909, and organized the American Bird 

 Banding Association. 



I )r. Leon J. ( !ole, w ho had heen so successfully pushing the work, 



was chosen President, and together with four able colleagues made 

 up the Executive Committee. In the spring of 1010, however, 

 Dr. Cole was permanently called to Madison, Wis., and partly as a 

 result of his absence, and also on account of the pressing business 

 affairs of all members of the ( lommittee and their widely separated 



places of residence, the activities of the Association Were destined 



to meet with a serious setback. Practically nothing was accom- 

 plished during 1010 nor in 1011, but in the full of the latter year 

 the I.inmcan Society of New York offered to foster the work, 

 much to the relief of those previously encumbered with it. A com- 

 mittee (consisting at first of three and subsequently of five) was 

 appointed and a campaign to raise funds in preparation for the 

 nesting season of L912 was inaugurated and carried forward with 

 con iderable success. 



At the outset a change in the type of hands .seemed advisable 

 and after inquiring among as many as six differeni European bird 

 banding organizations the style used by Country Life, London, was 

 adopted. Seven thousand five hundred of these hands, of eight 

 differeni sizes and bearing the inscription 'notify am museum 



\. v' instead of 'NOTIFi THE A.UK N v' were ordered. For the 



purpose of keeping an exact record of every hand issued a special 

 ledger was designed and a filing cabinel for record cards and cor- 

 respondence was purchased. As the spring of 10 1 L! approached 



post cards were sent out requesting that applications for hands he 



submitted. So vigorous was the response resulting fr these 



cards and from notices in ' The Auk,' ' Bird-Lore, 1 ' ( lountry Lift" in 



America' and elsewhere, that four thousand one hundred and 



