20 



THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



The general question asked is, Are the birds frightened by 

 being handled? In order to. answer this question in an intelli- 

 gent manner we have kept a careful record of the first flights 

 of birds after being trapped and banded, and the observation 

 is made by allowing the bird to become quiet in the hand, then 

 releasing as quietly as possible, and carefully judging the dis- 

 tance it would fly before alighting. This study brought out the 

 fact that when the same bird was caught the second time it 

 would fly about twice as far as the first time, but if caught the 

 third time the flight would equal about the same as the first 

 flight, and if caught the fourth time the flight would be less than 

 the first. If the bird still continued to be trapped the flight be- 

 came less and less until some of the birds that were placed on 

 the ground just hopped away, while others were always just as 

 wild as at first. 



For the study of those interested in this subject we are giving 

 the following table of first flights recorded during the last few 

 years. 



Distance of First Flights Made on Release after Being Trapped and Banded: 



Name 



Distance 



Action While Ha 



Downy Woodpecker 



200 feet 



Fight and squeal 



White-crowned Sparrow 



100 feet 



Quiet 



White-throated Sparrow 



50 feet 



Majority fight 



Song Sparrow 



100 feet 



Generally quiet 



Lincoln Sparrow 



125 feet 



Quiet 



Fox Sparrow 



125 feet 



Generally quiet 



Harris Sparrow 



100 feet 



Generally quiet 



Tree Sparrow 



100 feet 



Very quiet 



Field Sparrow 



100 feet 



Quiet 



Swamp Sparrow 



100 feet 



Quiet 



Savannah Sparrow 



100 feet 



Quiet 



House Sparrow 



not released 



Fighters 



Junco 



75 feet 



Quiet 



Towhee 



100 feet 



Kick and squirm 



Myrtle Warbler 



100 feet 



Quiet 



Catbird 



100 feet 



Quiet 



Brown Thrasher 



75 feet 



Fight and squeal 



House Wren 



50 feet 



Squirm 



Nuthatch W. B. 



100 feet 



Half squeal 



Brown Creeper 



100 feet 



Quiet 



Chickadee 



40 feet 



All fight 



Bluejay 



200 feet 



Generally quiet 



Kinglet, Golden-crowned 



20 feet 



Very quiet 



Wood and Hermit Thrushes 



200 feet 



Quiet 



Bronzed Grackle 



100 feet 



Fighters 



Mourning Dove Flew 



out of sight 



Quiet 



Robin 



150 feet 



Generally quiet 



