8 THEVA U'DU BON? BU Dens ay 
More than fifty years of active study have not spoiled the zest that 
comes from meeting old friends, or making a new “find” during the spring 
and fall migrations. Spring is the time of song and autumn the time of 
growing new traveling suits for the long trip to winter resorts. 
Many migration problems await solution and who knows but new 
arrivals may be seen in our own region, as frequently storm-tossed birds 
are driven far inland from either side of the continent and new records 
made. 
The concentration of great numbers of birds, particularly purple 
martins, barn swallows and others of the swallow tribe, just before the 
fall migration, at certain locations year after year; the immense mixed 
flocks of red-winged and other blackbirds that mass in the great elm trees 
along the Desplaines and other rivers; great geometrical flights of wild 
geese under visible leadership; mixed swarms of warblers, sparrows, and 
the August flight of nighthawks, are all fascinating phases of the autumn 
movement of birds to southern climes. 
In the 1923 Fall number of the Audubon Bulletin is an account of the 
first convention called for the purpose of discussing the future of bird 
banding. Among the participants in the meeting were E. Prentice Baldwin 
of Cleveland, Amos Butler, Alden H. Hadley, Percival Brooks Coffin, 
Richard Lieber, S. E. Perkins III, Herbert Stoddard, F. C. Lincoln, in 
charge of the bird banding work of the Biological Survey in Washington, 
D. C., the writer and the late, affectionately remembered Will I. Lyons, 
most of whom were active contributors to the knowledge of migration facts 
through bird banding. 
Since the development of bird banding as a definitely valuable scientific 
branch of bird study, many hitherto unsolved puzzles in connection with 
our feathered population have been unraveled. 
Among the many active students of bird migration, the work of Jack 
Miner of Kingsville, Ontario, with the migrations of geese and ducks 
deserves especial mention. That Jack Miner, a man of little education but 
a keen and accurate observer, should from a humble beginning achieve 
international reputation for his novel experiments with migrating water- 
fowl, is one of the outstanding examples of what can be done by patient 
and persistent application. 
The years since 1923 have yielded much to the known facts of bird 
migrations but the end is not yet. Many noted investigators have passed 
on but others are taking up the unfinished task. The names of Robert 
Ridgway, Amos Butler, William Isaac Lyon and many others will have a 
permanent place in the long list of contributors to the altogether delightful 
avocation, the elusive and never completed search for the solving of the 
mysteries of bird migration. 
Riverside, Illinois 
ft ft ft 
A LIMITED number of wildlife stamps are still to be had at the pore Ee 
office. Sheets will be broken if particular sets are desired. 
