fee DW BON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
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2001 NorRTH CLARK STREET, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
Number 41 March, 1942 
—— 
Chicago Bird Banding 
By Dr. FREDERICK CLEVELAND TEST 
ONE OF the fascinations of bird study in the field is that one is constantly 
encountering surprises of varying magnitude. These may be along the lines 
of unexpected identifications, actions setting forth individualisms in the 
birds observed, variations in food habits, unusual nesting sites or materials, 
and so on. The first two of these are especially evident when one undertakes 
bird banding, even on a limited scale. 
In a city the most casual observer will be aware of birds other than the 
ubiquitous English sparrow, and more recently the even less desirable star- 
ling. Trees along the streets in residence areas generally will furnish 
migrants for the looking during mornings and late afternoons while spring 
and fall migrations are on, and may not infrequently afford nesting  facili- 
ties for a few species, particularly robins, the commonest summer residents 
of northern Illinois. And to one who has opportunity to spend a half-hour 
once or twice a day with a field glass in back yards where there is space for 
trees and shrubs, the number of species to be seen during migration time 
rises to an unexpected number. Where several such back yards adjoin, even 
though each may be relatively small by itself, bird visitors come to a degree 
not to be appreciated until one actually tries it out, with glasses and note- 
book, especially if their visits are encouraged by means of food and water 
set out as conspicuously as possible. Naturally the incursions of neighbor- 
hood cats and dogs are to be sternly frowned upon. While longer lists of 
birds are to be obtained toward the outskirts of a city, the presence of 
numerous residences and apartment houses are not markedly deterrent if 
shade trees, shrubs and stretches of open lawn are present to invite explora- 
tion by travelling birds. But the varieties and numbers of birds visiting a 
city are much more manifest if one uses traps to aid in the observations, the 
simple drop trap and the familiar government sparrow trap enabling one 
to check up on species that otherwise are frequently overlooked, and a few 
years of bird banding afford unique delights to a bird student. 
At least I have found it so at a modest banding station on the South 
Side of Chicago, about a mile inland from the present shore of Lake Michi- 
gan, and about as much north of the campus of the University of Chicago. 
There five contiguous back yards give a space about 250 feet long and half 
as wide, while beyond an alley is about half as much more space, the whole 
framed by houses at intervals on all four sides, with some twenty trees, oak, 
maple, mulberry, walnut and haw, interspersed with about as many shrubs, 
framing the several lawns. 
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