Cyprus Field Operation 
' After hostilities forced evacuation of PMS personnel from Egypt in 
June 1967, it was decided to set up a temporary bird banding headquarters 
in Cyprus. We had reports that the local bird banders (mostly British 
military and diplomatic personnel on temporary assignment) were having 
difficulties with support from the British Trust for Ornithology, and 
would welcome outside assistance. Reality was quite the opposite. When 
it was rumored that the PMS wanted to band in Cyprus, the BTO that had 
sponsored local banding through the Cyprus Ornithological Society since 
1957, at first threatened to stop all British banding, but later welcomed 
our offer to use their bands. 
Strict rules were laid down for PMS banders in the fall of 1967 in 
Cyprus. We were only to band on British Soverign bases, which meant the 
Akrotiri Peninsula in south central Cyprus, and were to be under the 
local direction of the Cyprus Ornithological Society. The main purpose 
behind this arrangement was so as not to introduce the Cypriote bird 
catchers, who take more than a million migrants annually using birdlime, 
to the ’’modern" methods of using mistnets. It was feared this would 
increase the take of migrants beyond sustainable yield. 
A five-man team stayed in Cyprus for about three months in the fall 
of 1967 and although it added considerably to the numbers of birds 
banded in that country, its results were disappointing. In addition, it 
was impossible to run laboratory blood collection on the small numbers of 
birds captured due to conservation restrictions imposed by the British 
members of COS. 
24 
