86 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



be induced to engage in it, the possibility of surprising results 

 will be greatly increased. The following notes show the value 

 of the method. A Loon marked in New England was taken ten 

 years later in Florida. That a Loon should follow the coast to 

 Florida is not unexpected, but the date when the bird was taken 

 indicates a longer life in this species than the experience with 

 it in Zoological Gardens would lead us to expect. A Robin 

 banded in New England was taken later in Kentucky. Young 

 Night Herons banded in summer on Cape Cod have been taken 

 soon afterwards on the Maine coast. 



Dr. John C. Phillips of Wenham, Massachusetts, banded on 

 July 3, 1913, a Common Tern at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine, 

 which was found in August, 1917, floating, dead, on a branch 

 of the Niger River Delta in West Africa. Mr: Jack Miner, 

 Kingston, Ontario, has banded many ducks, and now believes 

 from his experience that male ducks which mate before they 

 go north follow their mates to the homes of the latter, breed 

 there, and return to Kingston in autumn with their families. 

 Some of his birds have been taken at points many hundreds of 

 miles away, in various directions, from Kingston. 



Mr. Baldwin's experience in banding House Wrens will shake 

 the belief, cherished by many people, that song-birds mate for 

 life. He has found that birds of a pair sometimes separate 

 before the breeding season is over, and mate again with other 

 mates between the first and second broods. Mr. Baldwin's ex- 

 periences would lead one to believe that it is quite possible 

 that a male House Wren might mate with his sister for his 

 first brood of the year, and with his grandmother for the second. 

 There is much to be learned by bird banding about the mating 

 habits, route and rate of migration, ages that wild birds reach 

 under natural conditions, winter ranges of individuals, pro- 

 pensity to wander after the breeding season, etc. There are 

 many lines of investigation that will suggest themselves as the 

 work goes on. Bird banding should be fostered and encour- 

 aged by every one interested in the acquisition of new facts 

 in ornithology. 



