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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by R. D. Sloane 

 TIIi; FRIIiNDSniP OF WII,D GEFSi; BEING SUCCESSFULLY CULTIVATED 



territory in North America north of 

 Mexico. They have secretaries to keep in 

 touch with the members and to promote 

 their activities. 



In addition, these organizations hold 

 annual meetings and publish bulletins and 

 other matter concerning the work. A 

 mass of new information about our bird 

 life is being built up, and the solution of 

 many long-standing mysteries in their 

 movements and habits appears to be near. 



BIRD BANDING WILL APPEAL TO ALL 

 BIRD LOVERS 



As bird lovers, a host of members of 

 the National Geographic Society will be 

 interested in this new form of bird study. 

 It has already yielded rich results and 

 promises much for years to come. More 

 people in the United States than in any 

 other j)art of the world have a real in- 

 terest in bird life, the numbers running 

 into millions. 



In the eastern United States number- 

 less peojile are familiar with the swarms 

 of graceful and beautifully colored War- 

 blers and other small birds that move 

 northward through our forests in the 

 spring. Earlier in the season, over the en- 



tire breadth of the continent, lovers of 

 wild things have their pulses quickened 

 by the thrilling sight of flocks of Cranes, 

 Geese, and Ducks sweeping high across 

 the sky, toward the waters in many a re- 

 mote northern solitude. 



By the human eye alone, it has been 

 impossible to determine that the birds oc- 

 curring in a locality at different periods 

 are the same individuals that have resided 

 there through the season. Neither has it 

 been possible to distinguish the males 

 from the females in Song Sparrows, 

 House Wrens, and various other species 

 in which the sexes are alike in color. 

 Through banding, these questions can be 

 answered, and also the relations of the 

 individuals of the species to their environ- 

 ment. 



Do the representatives of a species that 

 breed in a certain locality remain through- 

 out the year, or is there a shifting of the 

 bird population? At one place in Penn- 

 sylvania, Song Sparrows resident there 

 during the winter left in March or April 

 and were replaced by the summer resi- 

 dents, which in turn disappeared on the 

 approach of autumn. No handed Song 

 Sparrow captured there in midsummer 



