Homing Instincts and Movements as Indicated by Trap Returns 
Five woodcocks were captured and banded in the spring of 1949. One 
of these birds was originally caught at another male's singing ground, 
and since his home site was never located, the chances of ever recaptur- 
ing him were slight. Three of these five woodcocks were recaptured this 
year. Two were on precisely the same singing sites and the third was 
using another corner of the field where he was captured in 1949. In 
1950, one of these birds (50-3h5302) was caught in its same site but 
#50-34530h used a singing ground 600 yards away from his original capture 
site. Another bird was using his 1949 site. This spring he had success- 
fully reclaimed his original singing ground. Of most interest is the 
history of #50-345309. In 199 he was released 8 miles away from his 
capture site. In 1950 his singing ground which is isolated was checked 
several times. Another bird was caught on the opposite side of the field 
and was the only bird using the area. Other fields along the same wooded 
valley all yielded birds but the 1949 bird was not recaptured. Presumably 
he must have been in the vicinity, since he was caught this year in his 
original field. In this instance the bird never used his original singing 
spot but was caught where the 1950 bird was captured, about 100 yards away 
from the 1949 capture site. 
These observations were further supplemented by returns on 15 birds 
banded in 1950 and recaptured this spring. Five were taken on their 1950 
capture sites. One was initially taken on a new site but later recaptured 
on the site he occupied in 1950. Other singing males occupied 7 of the 
sites where the remaining 9 birds had been captured in 1950. Two of the 
1950 capture sites were not used. Three of these 9 birds used new sites 
where no males were heard a year ago. The other 6 used 1950 capture sites 
which were used by different birds last year. In general all recaptured 
birds returned to the same vicinity where taken a year ago. An exceptional 
case was #50-301646 recaptured 5 miles north of his 1950 capture site, from 
which a new bird was taken this year. 
Data on the 18 recaptures of birds banded in 1949 and 1950 are pre- 
sented in Table l. 
In addition to these records there were 21 birds caught originally 
this spring and recaptured as repeats one or more times this year. Table 
2 summarizes this information. 
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