2 BULLETIN- 1268, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



Haven club were the first to be issued by any ornithological club 

 in this country. Somewhat more than 5,000 of these bands were 

 distributed during the first season after their adoption, and Doctor 

 Cole, in commenting on the fact, expressed his satisfaction that 

 "approximately one-fifth of these were used and are now [1909] being 

 worn by a very considerable number of wild birds." 4 His paper on 

 the subject was presented at the meeting of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, in New York City, in November, 1909, and emphasized 

 the need of a permanent organization. 



The subject was again taken up at a dinner held at the Hotel 

 Endicott on November 8, 1909, and the organization of the American 

 Bird Banding Association was perfected at the meeting which followed. 

 The legend on the bands was again changed, the new inscription 

 reading notify a. m. museum, n. y. (sic), or (on the smaller sizes) 

 notify a. m. n. h., n. y. Adequate funds for the purchase of 

 bands and other supplies constituted a source of more or less diffi- 

 culty, but through the activities of this association, and particularly 

 through the untiring efforts of its secretary, Howard H. Cleaves, and 

 the assistance of the Linnsean Society of New York (since April, 1911), 

 the work was prosecuted until January, 1920. During this period 

 an important paper was presented by S. Prentiss Baldwin which 

 indicated the nigh character of the results that might be obtained 

 from the systematic trapping and banding of birds. 5 



In January, 1920, the work of the American Bird Banding Associ- 

 ation was formally taken over by the Biological Survey as an adjunct 

 to its investigations. The importance of this method of obtaining 

 information relative to the migrations and life histories of birds is 

 being fully demonstrated. 



Plans were at once formulated by the Biological Survey for the 

 intensive development of the project, but putting them into full 

 effect was delayed until an adequate supply of bands could be 

 assured. A manufacturer was finally found after a long search, who 

 was sufficiently interested to install and perfect the necessary ma- 

 chinery. With a supply of bands available to make a thorough 

 study, the bird-banding project has been developed steadily through 

 an increasing number of cooperators, whose work is done without 

 compensation. 



The work now bids fair to become one of the most effective means 

 for gathering precise information relating to bird migration and to 

 the life histories of many species. Studies conducted with many 

 individuals of a species at different trapping stations — thereby check- 

 ing the work of the different operators— are providing a wealth of 

 indisputable information which mil in some cases no doubt completely 

 revolutionize some accepted beliefs. It is generally conceded that 

 these results could be obtained in no way other than by the banding 

 method as furthered by the establishment of numerous trapping 

 stations. 



4 Cole, Leon J. The tagging of wild birds; report of progress in 1909: The Auk, vol. 27, no. 2, p. 157, 

 April, 1910. 



6 Baldwin, S. Prentiss. Bird banding by means of systematic trapping: Abstr. Proc. Linnaean Soc. 

 New York, no. 31, pp. 27-56, pis. 1-7, 1919. 



