THE AUDUBON BULLETIN q 
The New Method of Bird Study 
Do you know the fascination of trapping and banding wild 
birds? Have you held a bird in your hands, examined him care- 
fully, released him, and then found that instead of being fright- 
ened away he comes back to your traps again and again; some- 
times the same day, the same week; perhaps he reports to you 
nearly every day all summer; yes, and some of them year after 
year. 
Professional or amateur ornithologist, you may by these 
methods handle hundreds of birds in a year, study the bird, his 
habits, his mates, and even keep a record of his children, or 
grandchildren. By these methods you may secure new kinds of 
facts, that were formerly so difficult to obtain. 
“A trapping and banding station benefits and increases the 
number of birds as success requires that the locality be freed 
of the enemies; that food and shelter be provided, and the local- 
ity becomes in fact a bird sanctuary.” 
This method of bird study has been adopted by the U. S. 
Biological Survey ( Washington, D. C.) and Special Permits 
for Bird-banding are issued to those who will volunteer to place 
the bands which are furnished by the Survey. 
“Permits for bird banding are issued only to persons over 
eighteen years of age who have sufficient experience and know]l- 
edge of birds to carry on the work with scientific accuracy.” 
Within two years permits have been issued to six hundred 
persons in North America. In New England, some hundreds 
of bird students have formed a Bird-banding Association to co- 
operate with and assist the Survey in that region. 
At Chicago, at the time of the meeting of the American 
Ornithologists’ Union, on Tuesday, October 24, 1922, a bird 
banders’ dinner and meeting was held; it was a large and en- 
thusiastic meeting attended by many ornithologists, from many 
parts of the United States and Canada. At this meeting the 
Inland Bird-banding Association was formed, for the purpose 
of assisting and co-operating with the Biological Survey in or- 
ganizing this work in Canada, and the Central States and the 
States of the Mississippi Valley, from the Appalachian Moun- 
tains to the Rocky Mountains and south to the Gulf of Mexico. 
The purpose of this association is to bring together those 
who are interested in the study and protection of birds along 
the great migration routes in this area, and to assist in organ- 
izing trapping stations, to encourage local meetings of those 
who are interested, and provide a central office of exchange of 
information and ideas; members will be expected, when they 
file reports with the Biological Survey, as required by the Sur- 
vey, to furnish quarterly a general report to this Association. 
The scientific results of this method of bird study are many 
times multiplied by establishing permanent trapping stations; 
