) BULLETIN 1268, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Haven club were the first to be issuetl 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.”* 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. Cieatee and 
the assistance of the Linnean 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 high character of the results that might be obtained 
from the systematic trapping and banding of birds.’ 
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 will 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 er LeonJ. The tagging of wild birds; report of progress in 1909: The Auk, vol. 27, no. 2, p. 157, 
April, 1910. 
® Baldwin, S. Prentiss. Bird banding by means of systematic trapping: Abstr. Proc. Linnean Soc. 
New York, no. 31, pp. 27-56, pls. 1-7, 1919. 
