Vol i909" VI ] CoLE > The Tagging of Wild Birds. 141 



There are several ways in which the banding may be carried on, 

 but banding the young before they leave the nest is probably the 

 most feasible. This can, of course, be done only with those birds 

 which attain practically their full growth before they attempt 

 flight. In these birds the tarsus is, as a rule, about as large when 

 the fledglings leave the nest as it ever becomes; there is no danger, 

 therefore, that the bands will ever become too tight. If one is 

 inclined to doubt this one should recall that this is the method of 

 recording individuals universally employed by breeders of pigeons 

 and canaries, which once banded, carry the bands for life. In the 

 case of chickens, turkeys, and similar fowls, it is necessary either 

 to replace the bands by larger ones as the birds grow, or else to 

 open them out. 



Still another problem which might be attacked in this way is the 

 geographical extension of certain species. What better way, for 

 example, of studying the dispersal of the Starling, which is gradually 

 extending its territory about New York and in Southern New 

 England ? Do the old birds leave the places where they were 

 reared and seek habitation elsewhere, or are the young the pioneers ? 

 The length of time required to attain adult plumage, and many 

 similar questions would also receive light. 



It is not the purpose of the plan systematically to shoot birds in 

 order to recover the bands, nor to encourage the same, but fate 

 sooner or later brings many birds into man's hands. However 

 deplorable it may be, many of our birds (such as Robins and 

 Bobolinks) are shot when they go South in the fall, and while such 

 a condition exists advantage may as well be taken of it. 



Directions for the return of the band are stamped upon it. Prob- 

 ably almost anyone finding a bird bearing a tag with a definite 

 address would know what was desired of him, but possibly it may 

 be advisable to offer a small reward to the finder as an additional 

 stimulus. A certain amount of advertising in sporting and similar 

 journals might aid as well. 



In other cases it may be possible, as Audubon did, to catch the 

 birds upon the nest and examine them without harm. Further- 

 more (as Mr. Taverner has suggested to me in a letter), anyone in a 

 suitable locality could trap small birds, band them and release 

 them. This continued systematically through successive seasons 



