A Trap for Bank Swallows

XlII •4• MORRIS, A Tr(•p for B(•nk Swallows [83 when removed from the trap, the only instance of such an occurrence in the similar handling of hundreds of spedmens.Subsequent dissection disclosed no trace of external or internal injury.The bird was an adult male, at least five and one-half years Thus the Sanetuary's winter population of Tree Sparrows appears to be a relatively stable group, the same individuals returning year after year if survival permits, with losses in the ranks being filled by new individuals.They appear to be distinct from the hordes of spring and fall transients, which as far as banding evidence can disclose, rarely return via a Sanctuary route.The only apparent exception to the separateness of tran,ients from the winter resident• is of a bird banded March 29, 1939 and retaken two winters later on January 24, 1941.Otherwise, aside from an occasional February influx from unknown sources, the wintering group arrives in late fall and tenrains into April, forming a loose association who,e individuals (unlike chickadee.,)apparently stray far and wide.often disappearing for days at a time, but eventually reappearing at the Sanctuary feeders, sometimes all together, more often as small separate segments of a larger wintering group.Pleasant Valley Sanctuary, Lenox, Mass.