152 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Voi.. XXVIII, 1921 
for, of the countless thousands of birds only a comparatively 
few fall into mans’ hands; and every banded bird increases the 
chances of finding out something about that individual or the 
species to which it belongs just to that degree. 
It is not the intention or plan of those who sponsor the band- 
ing of birds to lend encouragement to their promiscuous hunting 
and killing for the explicit purpose of recovering the bands. But 
every legitima:te collector; field observer and sportsman should be 
made aware of the exploitations now being made in an endeavor 
to bring to light new facts, so that he may be on the lookout for 
banded birds. Whenever such a bird is found the number or, 
if the bird is dead, the band itself should be forwarded to the 
United States Biological Survey, Washington, D. C., along with 
whatever data may be obtained concerning the taking of the bird. 
Now, while bird banding in itself is a valuable and laudable 
phase of ornithological endeavor numerous interesting and inci- 
dental features are bound to force themselves upon the attention 
of the investigator. During the summer of 1920 the writer 
spent the months of July and August at the University of Michi- 
gan Biological Station in northern Michigan. The Station is 
located on Douglas Lake which lies in the coniferous belt about 
seventeen miles from the Straits of Mackinac on the north, Lake 
Michigan on the west and Lake Huron on the east. Many fav- 
orable nesting sites for birds are bffered and numbers of species 
that we in Iowa see only as migrants nest among the pines and 
aspens in more or less safety and seclusion. 
Here, during a period of about six weeks, 115 birds repre- 
senting twenty different species were banded. Of these, 106 
were nestlings occupying thirty-nine nests, eight were young birds 
captured after leaving the nest and 'one was an adult. 
And so, while looking for subjects to band and studying the 
inhabitants of nests before and after banding we were brought 
face to face with many interesting sidelights relating to the be- 
havior and habits of certain birds which, under other circum- 
stances, might have escaped us. It is on some of our findings 
in this field that I should now like to briefly direct my remarks. 
The order of presentation of the species herein included is based 
solely upon the order of sequence in the A. O. U. Check List. 
Spotted Sandpiper. Actitis macularia (Linn.). As might be 
expected, spotted sandpipers are not uncommon in the region and 
during the first half of July young birds may be seen almost 
anywhere along the beaches. On July 10 a family of four young, 
