THE WILSON BULLETIN 
Published at Oberlin, Ohio, by the Wilson Ornithological Club. 
Official Organ of the Wilson Ornithological Club and the Nebraska Ornithological Union (jn 
affiliation). 
Price in the United States, Canada and Mexico, $1 50 a year, 50c a number, post paid. Price 
in all countries in the International Union, $2.00 a year, 60c a number. Subscriptions should be 
sent to Geo. L. Fordyce, Youngstown, Ohio. 
EDITORIAL 
The Wilson Bulletin enters upon its thirty-fourth year with a larger 
page than it has ever had, with the assurance that it will be better illus- 
trated than ever, and with a return to a sixty-four page issue. These ad- 
vances are made possible by the modest increase of membership dues that 
were voted at the last annual meeting, and by a somewhat lessened ex- 
pense in its manufacture. For this increase in membership dues there 
will be more than a corresponding increase in the amount of printed mat- 
ter during the year. We feel confident that the wisdom of making this 
forward step will commend itself to every member. 
The new Department of Bird Banding, which begins with this issue, 
is evidence of a rapid growth of the banding movement. We are glad 
that it has grown to the point where it can fill a department, because we 
believe that in this movement there is greater promise of the solution of 
many of the problems of migration and habits than in any other field. 
Of course we have not yet reached the end of taxonomy, even in North 
America, but this field now properly belongs more to the specialist in 
taxonomy than to the great mass of students of birds. Trapping for the 
purpose of banding is open to the most of us, and when conducted in the 
spirit of cooperation, the principle upon which this organization was 
founded, there are sure to be gratifying results. Let us get into this 
movement for the sake of the cause itself. There is no field that gives 
promise of greater results. 
On another page of this issue will be found a plea made by the U. S. 
Biological Survey for volunteers who will resume the bird counts which 
were interrupted by the war. The importance of the continuance of these 
bird counts will become clear to anyone who stops to think that it is only 
by such careful work that we can arrive at anything like a correct esti- 
mate of the variations in the number of birds that inhabit any given re- 
gion, and through the various regions, the whole country. Various ef- 
forts have been made, from time to time, and by various persons, to de- 
termine what effect the settlement of the country, hunting, general shoot- 
ing, collecting, and various other agencies, have had upon the birds and 
mammal population of our country. The reports have not been convinc- 
ing for the reason that they were largely based upon the impressions of 
men and women who are somewhat advanced in years, and are probably 
net now as actively engaged in outdoor pursuits as they used to be. But 
with a mass of material which is the result of accurate counts of the 
birds during the nesting season, made from time to time in the same 
area, there will be reliable material from which to make the estimates. 
V/e earnestly urge those who can to do this work this year. 
