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RINGING BIRDS IN HUNGARY. 



A New and Valuabi^e Method. 



BY 



H. F. WITHERBY. 



During a recent visit to Hungary I had the pleasure 

 of inspecting, by the kindness of the Director, Herr 

 Otto Herman, the Royal Hungarian Central Bureau 

 for Ornithology. 



This institution has done and is doing, as is well 

 known, excellent biological work. It is now housed 

 in a fine new building in Budapest, and has a most 

 efficient staff. 



I was particularly interested in the section devoted 

 to the ringing of birds, which is under the control of 

 Herr J. Schenk. Ringing was started in 1908, and 

 from then until and including 1914 some twenty-four 

 thousand birds have been marked. Most of these were 

 ringed as nestlings, but recently a number of adults 

 of certain species have been marked. The best results 

 have been obtained from Storks, Herons, Waders, Gulls 

 and Starhngs, the percentage of recoveries in Storks, 

 Herons and GuUs being from three to five, while in 

 other species the recoveries have been from one to two 

 per cent. 



Herr Herman very kindly made arrangements for me 

 to accompany Herr Schenk on one of the marking 

 expeditions which he constantly makes. The first day 

 we visited Lake Velencze — a large, shallow, rush- and 

 reed -grown lake not far from Budapest. Here, nestling 

 Black-headed Gulls, Black Terns and Redshanks were 

 ringed, as well as one or two Black-necked Grebes, 

 which were exceedingly common but impossible to 

 catch except when very young, and also two Pochard 

 ducklings. 



This lake, which is well known to several EngHsh 

 ornithologists, is crowded with bird-life and is a most 



