400 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 
open-sided ring which can readily be passed over the tarsus of a bird and 
closed, taking care that it can move easily between the foot and the knee, and 
the bird is then released. 
The species number, date, locality, and circumstances are recorded on a 
form supplied with each packet of twenty rings. These rings are issued by 
Messrs. Witherby to subscribers to their magazine ‘ British Birds’ who are 
willing to assist, and are carefully registered. 
When one of these marked birds is recaptured and the incident reported the 
information is added to the register, and from these details an annual report 
with maps is prepared, and published by Messrs. Witherby under the auspices 
of the British Ornithologists’ Club, the eighth, for 1913, being now ready. Thus 
the ultimate course and length of bird migration will be defined. 
It is requested that all wild birds may be ringed, as it is found that even the 
most constant varieties wander to considerable distances. 
A very large number of rings have been utilised, and about five per cent. of 
these retaken and reported. In addition to the English scheme, this work is 
being carried on by Professor Mortensen from Viborg in Denmark, and by others 
in Germany. The results are most encouraging. Adult swallows marked in 
pairs have been traced from Ayrshire and Staffordshire in England to Natal and 
the Orange Free State in Africa, and back to Staffordshire, but in each case 
only one of the pair has been retaken as they always have new mates. 
Nestlings seldom return to their birth-place. Thrushes, blackbirds, and 
robins marked in England have been recaptured in Ireland and France. Cor- 
morants, nestlings from Wexford in Iveland, in Finisterre, Brittany, Portugal, 
and Spain; mallard and wild duck in France; a pochard I marked in Warwick- 
shire was retaken six months later at Butzow in Mecklenburg; a turtle-dove in 
Portugal. 
Abroad the same work has been carried on since 1898, and a starling from 
Russia reached Yorkshire ; a widgeon from Denmark reached Wales; tufted duck 
from Finland reached Ireland, and a Prussian black-headed gull was recaptured 
in Norfolk. 
6. Report on the Biological Problems incidental lo the Belmullet 
Whaling Station—See Reports, p. 125. 
7. Report of the Committee on the Marine Laboratory, Plymouth. 
See Reports, p. 163. 
8. Report on the Occupation of a Table at the Zoological Station at 
Naples.—See Reports, p. 162. 
9. Report on the Position of the Antarctic Whaling Industry. 
See Reports, p. 123. 
10. Final Report on Experiments in Inheritance.—See Reports, p. 163. 
11. Report of the Committee on the Nomenclator Animalium Genera 
et Sub-genera. 
12. Report on the Feeding Habits of British Birds. 
