94 Miscellaneous Circular 18, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
ing in results and records regularly. Envelopes requiring no postage 
will be supplied for returning the record cards, which, during the 
busy seasons, should be forwarded at least once a mcnth. The im- 
portance of promptness will be appreciated when it is considered 
that the “return” data of a bird banded at one station to-day and 
recovered at another station a short time later may be forwarded to 
the Biological Survey before the first record of banding is in proper 
place in the files. 
When actually engaged in banding, be careful to write down the 
band number at once; do not trust to memory. It is well to carry to 
the traps a card for entering the name and number of each bird 
handled. Before attaching a band, note its number while opening it, 
and check up the record afterward. Small numbers of several fig- 
ures should be read with the greatest care, as one may be more likely 
to make errors with small numbers than with large ones. <A band 
RECORD OF BIRD BANDED 
WHERE panveo... Washing ton.,..D.C Re vara Be BEN nes Ok 
BANDED BY _John..M. Jones 
uns Prceonprorineceven a lmenee REMARKS 
DATE LOCALITY | BY 
a 
5/6/23. -Sameren |e 4 Uee eee | 
5/10/23 Sames G3 | 
Form Bi-137 
Fic. 27.—Record card properly filled out. The bird had -‘“ repeated ’”’ twice at different 
substations before the card was sent in. 
read wrongly may totally disqualify what otherwise would be a most 
valuable report. Be particularly careful with “ returns,” especially 
if the bird was banded at another station. 
Each cooperator should keep a permanent record of his operations, 
so that his reports can be checked up and verified at any time. As 
reports will be made from this permanent record, it will be well also 
to note in it such items as the actions of the bird in the trap or in> 
the hand; whether it seems unduly alarmed, fights, or squeals; 
whether there is an excessive number of body or feather parasites; 
malformations or peculiar color patterns; and any other features of 
interest. <A file of cards 3 by 5 inches in size is excellent for this 
purpose. Or, a loose-leaf system with a separate page for each bird 
is good. 
_ Complete station reports, containing all records of “ repeats” and 
“returns,” should be sent to the Biological Survey semiannually. It 
is not desirable to have such information reported more frequently. 
During slack seasons cooperators probably will compile their station 
