THE OOLOGIST 



271 



birds are guided on their journey by 

 landmarks, the adults acting as pilots, 

 but as the majority travel by night, 

 this would necessitate a knowledge 

 of astronomy, nothing said of those 

 that travel in cloudy weather or over 

 a vast expanse of water, while we 

 meet with numerous small parties of 

 juveniles working southward without 

 an adult among them. 



Despite the various theories and 

 convictions entertained by the Orni- 

 thological world regarding the phe- 

 nomena of bird migration, we all have 

 a common interest in the great move- 

 ment, and as a detailed discussion of 

 the general subject is not my inten- 

 tion, those who are not wholly famil- 

 iar with it, are referred to Leon J. 

 Cole's paper in Vol. IV, No. 1, of the 

 Michigan Bulletin, but it is Mr. Cole's 

 second communication in No. 4 of 

 same volume that has induced me to 

 take up the subject there presented, 

 in order to efface the erroneous im- 

 pression that considerable difficulty 

 would attend the securing of birds 

 for the purpose of "tagging", and fur- 

 thermore to second his proposition 

 that the work be taken in hand by an 

 Ornithological organization. 



The possibilities of bird "tagging" 

 offers far greater satisfaction and 

 stimulates a greater interest than the 

 method of tracing the migratory move- 

 ment by records of arrivals, depart- 

 ures, etc., where so much depends up- 

 on the data of individuals without posi- 

 tive proof of their competency or ve- 

 racity. The return of a tag, however, 

 is proof beyond question; and hence 

 of the highest value and interest. 

 Young birds, just prior to leaving the 

 nest, furnish an abundance of ma- 

 terial. 



A reference to my note book for the 

 season of 1903 reveals a personal find 

 of 2015 eggs and nestlings in Wayne 

 and Oakland Counties, and this does 



not include the finds of other members 

 of the party. Making every allow- 

 ance, I could have easily "tagged" one 

 hundred nestlings of appropriate spe- 

 cies, and at least a dozen bird stu- 

 dents in the state could have done the 

 same. And surely the neighborhood 

 of twelve hundred labeled birds could 

 not fail to produce some results. It 

 is an accepted fact that many birds 

 return yearly to the same nesting 

 site or vicinity, but what becomes of 

 the young? The proposed system is 

 doubtless the only satisfactory road 

 to a solution of the question. Per- 

 sonal observation has shown conclus- 

 ively that Great Blue Herons and Red- 

 shouldered Hawks reared in this lo- 

 cality do not return to breed, and this 

 is probably the case with most spe- 

 cies. A majority of the few new pairs 

 of Red-shoulders that nested here 

 were shot and examined and were in 

 the first adult plumage. For years my 

 field work was confined to Greenfield 

 township and every pair of hawks, and 

 all the larger nests of the various 

 pieces of timber were well known to 

 me; so probably the pair of Broad- 

 wings that nested in that township 

 were the only ones to do so. The 

 nest was located by Mr. Bradshaw 

 Swales, who secured the female, 

 which is now in his collection. But 

 the bird is in the immature plumage 

 of the second year. 



Six species of birds were selected 

 for especial observation by the Com- 

 mittee on Geographical Distribution. 

 One of these is resident and none are 

 suitable for the proposed system. 

 This is obvious when we contemplate 

 the vast area to the south and the 

 comparative small number of Orni- 

 thologists in it; but sportsmen invade 

 every section of the country, and who 

 knows of a village, no matter how 

 small, that cannot claim a gunner or 

 so. And nearly every farmer pos- 



