'i,,i : , | (i i ivi American Bird Banding Association. 2o3 



.- 1 < 1 1 1 1 1 s it adds ;i vigorous interesl to bird study; arouses latent 

 interest; or even preserve interest when it tends to wane. 



These feM cases of the activities of field agent are cited as 

 ■ amples of whal hundreds of ornithologists should be doing 

 throughoul the continenl of North America. Bird banding is 

 not the work of ;i limiteil circle but the duty of many, and it. is 

 only by extensive banding thai results of value can be obtained. 

 Realizing th< ii be been thought lust to welcome the 



cooperation of all competent bird lovers, regardless of the mutter 

 of contribution or annual due.-,. Any one deemed properly quali- 

 fied by the Committee may apply for bands and will receive them. 

 On the other hand it is hoped thai there are enough people who 

 sufficiently appreciate thevalueof the work to u tain theneces- 

 financial burden. 



A year ago many per on declined to support the work of bird 



banding on the grounds thai nol ufficienl resull had been obtained 

 to i tabli h ii practicability. The following return records of 

 banded birds, received within the pat twelve months, should rob 

 i hi objection of it- foundation. 



On June 7th, Mill, an adult Chimney Swift, fluttered down a. 



chimney into the imk of Mr. Ernesl Harold Baynes in Meriden, 

 \ew Hampshire, and was promptly banded and released. The 

 hand was of the old jtyle and bore the number <>:;_'<>. At < 

 o'clock I'. M. on .lime 15, l!)l_', two Chimney Swifts flew from 

 the chimney into the same room of Mr. Baynes' house where the 

 bird had been caught ;i year and eight days before. And lo! 

 when these birds were taken in hand and examined one of them 

 proved to he 6326. Remarkable as it may seem, this diminutive 

 creature, less than ,k. inches in length, had travelled hundreds of 

 miles to Central America or elsewhere in the tropics where he 

 pent the winter and then had made the long return journey at the 

 approach of summer and found again the chimney of his choice in a 

 village of far-off New Hampshire. And throughout his journ< 

 ings the little aluminum ring hail travelled with him and had pro- 

 duced not the leasl effect on the bird's leg. 



Two French Canadians were gunning along a small river near 

 the hamlet of Whitebread in outhwestern Ontario, Canada, on 

 August ."), 1912. Blackbirds, their intended booty, were not 



