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BIRD-RINGING.
BIRD-RINGING. B Y ALEXANDER
MAYALL.
of the scheme for marking birds of our Isles, inaugurated in 1909 and still conducted by the Editor of ' British Birds,' has grown enormously : subscribers to that Magazine are alone entitled to apply for rings. The initial experiment here was no novelty, having been previously tried with considerable success on the Continent as well as in the United States, where the process is termed bird-banding. Such marking is an engrossing hobby ; and the number of its votaries yearly increases, so that numerous ringers now exist in every English county. The scheme began with the modest total of 2,171 birds ringed; but in 1933 the number was 38,441 ringed, bringing the total to 385,989 since the inception of the plan. Rings employed are of aluminium bearing a number with some London address ; they vary, of course, in size according to that of the bird wearing them. POPULARITY
Much that will elucidate the general aspects of migration, and help to illuminate points at present obscure, can be learned from the movements of such individualised birds. For instance, we can discover the breeding-place of a young bird whose birthplace is thus indicated; whether individuals return to their previous nesting haunts ; and if the same winter-quarters are sought year after year. Also, we learn the fate of birds we have known : an interesting and rather curious example of which is found in a nestling Cuckoo (Cuculiis canorus, L.), which I ringed in a Pied Wagtail's nest at Eton in Bucks on 23 June 1928, and which was shot by a native with an arrow as it was alighting in the French Cameroons on 30 January 1930. T h e easiest method is to place the rings on birds when nestlings, before they become quite fully fledged ; but it is more important to ring adults, who have already escaped the multifarious perils yet awaiting fledglings. Several harmless kinds of trap can be used for the capture of adult birds, that are then ringed and liberated ; indeed, birds thus ringed will often return so frequently to the traps, for a free meal, that their visits become almost a nuisance. T h e whole work is obviously of value in direct proportion to the magnitude of the scale upon which it is undertaken : the scheme, already the broadest British Organisation ot its kind, by expansion must afford ever more satisfactory results.