366 • BRITISH BIRDS. 



The longest time, so far, between the hberation of a 

 marked Crow and its recapture, is four years and a week : 

 Hberated at Rossitten, October 12th, 1903 ; shot at the 

 mouth of the Vistula, October 20th, 1907. 



The proportion of marked birds again recorded is even 

 greater among the Gulls than among the Crows, but this 

 is partly explained by the commonness of gull-shooting 

 as a form of "sport" on the Continent. Moreover, 

 one of these larger-sized rings would be visible on a bird 

 at some distance. The proportions, as reckoned about 

 eighteen months ago, were 12.5 per cent, and 16.6 per cent, 

 for Herring-Gulls (Larus argentatus), and Common Gulls 

 (L. canus) respectively. One of the latter species marked 

 at Rossitten was obtained in the Faroes, so that it is 

 probable that some Rossitten birds may reach the 

 British Isles. 



Although the proportion is smaller among the Black- 

 headed Gulls (L. ridibundus) the total number of returns 

 is greater as these birds are marked in large numbers 

 as nestlings in a colony at Rossitten. The records have 

 shown that, on the approach of winter the birds of this 

 colony cross Europe by two routes. One leads south- 

 wards, following the Vistula at first it is supposed, over 

 Vienna and Trieste to the Adriatic, where quite a number 

 have been recorded near the mouth of the Po. One, also, 

 has been obtained in the south of Italy, and a bird marked 

 on July 26th, 1907, was obtained near Tunis on January 

 12th, 1908. The other route follows the Baltic coast 

 westwards, crosses to the North Sea, follows the Rhine 

 upwards, and reaches the Mediterranean by the Lake of 

 Geneva and the valley of the Rhone. 



Storks (Ciconia alba) have been marked in considerable 

 numbers, as nestlings, in East Prussia and elsewhere. 

 Among those returned are a few from different parts of 

 Africa. These include one of a brood of three marked 

 by Dr. Thienemann near Konigsberg on June 21st, 1906, 

 and one of a brood of three marked near Koslin, in 

 Pomerania, on July 5th, 1907. The ringed foot of 



