VOL. L FEBRUARY No. 2 1957 BRITISH BIRDS REPORT ON BIRD-RINGING FOR 1955* By ROBERT SPENCER, B.A. Secretary, Bird-Ringing Committee of the British Trust for Ornithology. THIS is the nineteenthf report issued on behalf of the Bird-Ringing Committee. It combines a report on the progress of ringing during 1955 with a selected list of recoveries reported for that year. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION The members of the Committee are as follows : Sir Landsborough Thomson (Chairman), Miss E. P. Leach, A. W. Boyd, Hugh Boyd, J. A. Gibb, P. A. D. Hollom, G. R. Mountfort, Major-General C. B. Wainwright, George Waterston ; Sir Norman Kinnear (representing the Trustees of the British Museum) ; Bruce Campbell and C. A. Norris (ex officiis) ; Robert Spencer (Secretary). Miss M. Hewitt was succeeded by D. J. Summers in March, who was in turn suc- ceeded by J. L. F. Parslow as full-time assistant. Miss V. Palmer joined the staff in July. Miss E. P. Leach remained in charge of all reports of birds ringed by other schemes, and in addition gave much help throughout the year. Her assistance in tracing obscure localities has been invaluable. The headquarters of the scheme remain at the British Museum (Natural History) by permission of the Trustees. Rings are inscribed "BRIT. MUSEUM LONDON S.W.7 " but rings bearing the fuller address " British Museum Nat. Hist. London" will remain in circulation for many years. * A publication of the British Trust for Ornithology. fThe last preceding report was published in British Birds, vol. xlviii, pp. 461-498. 37 38 BRITISH BIRDS [VOL. L Copies of the revised " Rules and Instructions ", to take effect in January 1956, were issued to all ringers in December. Under the new regulations each ringer must hold a Ringer's Permit, issued by the Committee. Three classes of permit are available : "A" for the ordinary individual ringer ; " B " for the ringer who wishes to ring solely on behalf of some corporate group or observatory ; and " C " which is primarily for probationers. FINANCE The salaries of the secretary and his assistant were again met by a generous grant from the Nature Conservancy. To meet other expenses it was necessary to augment the incorne derived from the " sale " of rings by grajits of £270 from the main funds of the Trust, and of £25 from the publishers of British Birds. The füll accounts for 1955 appear in the Annual Report of the Trust. PROGRESS OF RINGING The year 1955 was one of rapid expansion, the total of birds ringed being 126,303 (see Table I). This represents an increase of some 23,000 over the figure for the previous twelve months. It will be noted that the increase is solely due to the rise in the numbers of trapped birds (an indication of the increasing efficiency of trapping methods rather than an increase in the number of trappers), andit is cause for concern that the proportion of nestlings in the annual total is steadily falling, for the subsequent recovery of birds ringed in the nest yields important Information which cannot normally be derived from the recovery of birds ringed when free-flying. Nine species were ringed for the first time in 1955 : Smew (Major-General Wainwright); Red-footed Falcon (Fair Isle B.O.); White-rumped (or Bonaparte's) Sandpiper (Cambridge Bird Club); Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Portland B.O.); Scops Owl (Skokholm B.O.); Shore Lark (Dungeness B.O.); Thick-billed Warbier, Phragamaticola aedon (Fair Isle B.O.) ; Orphean Warbier (Portland B.O.); and Bonelli's Warbier (Portland B.O.). Twenty-eight individual totals exceeded 1,000 and five were in excess of 5,000, The bird observatories accounted for approximately 30,000 of the total. Restrictions of space do not permit further comment on the many and varied successes of the year, but füll details are presented in Table II, which has been extended this year to form a definitive list of birds ringed in this country since the inception of the scheme. RECOVERIES 4,063 recoveries were handled in 1955 compared with 3,043 in 1954 ; an increase of a third. A corresponding increase in the size of the report is not possible and so selection for publication has been, of necessity, yet more rigorous. In species for which many recoveries have already been published summaries are given, or only those VOL. L] REPORT ON BIRD-RINGING FOR 1955 39 records which add to our knowledge of distribution, speed of move­ ment or longevity. In compensation, Table II again shows the number of recoveries reported for each species, and a final column has been added showing " Grand Total Recoveries." Amongst the many interesting recoveries the larger series, such as the shearwaters from Brazil and the many ducks and geese from the Soviet Union, are not likely to be overlooked. Some single re­ coveries, however, break new ground and attention may be drawn to the first Lapwing recovery in the U.S.S.R., the first foreign recoveries of Little Ringed Plover and Spotted Redshank and two outstanding Turnstone movements. Of the Passerines re- covered, there are the second report of a ringed Swallow in the Belgian Congo, Skylarks reported from Norway and Finland, and the first foreign recoveries of Blue Tit and Lesser Whitethroat, in France and Israel respectively. PUBLICATIONS The following papers make use of the recoveries of the scheme :— R. G. B. Brown (1955) : "The migration of the Coot in relation to Britain." Bird Study, vol. 2, pp. 135-142. J. C. Coulson and E. White (1955) : "Abrasion and loss of rings among sea birds." Bird Study, vol. 2, pp. 41-44. For particulars of the ringing of ducks and geese see also :—Peter Scott and Hugh Boyd (1955) : Seventh Annual Report ofthe Wildfowl Trust, 1953-54- Table I NUMBER OF BIRDS RINGED Juv.-Ad. ~Pullns\ Total 1955 90,585 35,718 126,303 1954(1.10.53-31.12.54)* 77,809 36,684 114,493 1953 63,318 35,199 98,517 1952 56,867 39,459 96,326 I95i 49.364 36,379 85,743 1950 42,112 33,994 76,106 1949 27,496 29,965 57,461 1948 18,413 20,911 39,324 1947 14,574 14,007 28,581 1946 8,909 8,412 17,321 Grand Total (including arrears) 1,481,552 f An explanation of the term " pullus " or " pull." appears on page 45. *The ringing year formerly commenced on ist October. In 1954 it was decided to make it coincide with the calendar year, and there was accordingly a " year " of 15 months. 40 BRITISH BIRDS [VOL. L Table II RINGING AND RECOVERY TOTALS TO 31.12.55 (Save for a limited number of races, generally identifiable in the field, and traditionally treated trinomially (e.g. wagtails), subspecies have been "lumped". It has been found necessary to omit from the two recovery columns the retraps—records of birds caught again locally and released—of which large numbers exist for certain species, especially " garden birds". Certain records of birds found dead by the ringer remain to be incorporated.) Ringed Recovered 1955 Grand Grand Juv-Ad. pull. Total Total 1955 Total Leach's Petrel —, — 233 Storm Petrel... 357 69 426 2,372 — 5 Manx Shearwater 5.179 1,329 6,508 60,502 41 635 Fulmar 88 161 249 2,595 6 27 Gannet 89 1.348 . 1.437 16,292 52 638 Cormorant. ... 3 90 93 3,888 43 886 Shag ... 127 527 654 4,5i9 81 474 Heron... 7 348 355 3,450 29 481 Mallard 1,723 95 1,818 15,542 291 1,585 Teal ... • ■ 2,833 3 2,836 18,367 37° 2,666 Wigeon 226 — 226 i,578 58 239 Pintail 32 8 40 387 12 67 Shoveler 37 15 52 319 9 58 Tufted Duck... 16 — 16 565 14 130 Eider ... 61 —• 61 993 4 50 Shelduck 8 23 3i 572 3 31 Grey Lag Goose —• 9 9 149 28 85 White-fronted Goose —■ — 253 14 63 Pink-footed Goose 1,144 — I.I44 4,660 275 945 Canada Goose 79 69 148 385 6 17 Buzzard 10 29 39 819 5 39 Sparrowhawk 11 2 13 1,225 10 182 Hen Harrier ... — 45 45 256 9 34 Montagu's Harrier — 8 8 186 3 22 Peregrine — 3 3 151 2 22 Merlin 3 7 10 5°9 1 75 Kestrel 20 54 74 1,873 14 210 Red Grouse ... — — 262 9 Water Rail ... 28 — 28 175 2 6 Corncrake 3 — 3 684 — 11 Moorhen 247 3i 278 3,578 6 86 Coot ... 193 6 199 1,110 17 75 Oystercatcher 19 234 253 4,536 3° 220 Lapwing 123 2,451 2,574 59,609 55 1,177 Ringed Plover 66 161 227 3,201 4 41 Little Ringed Plovei 15 15 100 3 3 Golden Plover — 19 19 469 2 16 Turnstone 47 — 47 173 2 3 Snipe ... 120 61 181 2,633 6 119 Woodcock 11 18 29 5,590 2 426 Curlew 23 235 258 5,518 16 222 Common Sandpiper 148 62 210 2,605 1 15 Redshank 81 187 268 4,188 12 122 VOL. L] REPORT ON BIRD-RINGING FOR 1955 41 Ringed Recovered 1955 Grand Grand Juv.-Ad. pull. Total Total 1955 Total Dunlin 150 8 158 577 3 6 Stone Curlew ... •— 1 1 338 — 17 Arctic Skua 43 58 101 478 2 8 Great Skua 3 39 42 1,117 2 34 Great Black-backed Gull 10 101 in i,375 7 66 Lesser Black-backed Gull 10 1,012 1,022 18,060 45 714 Herring Gull 160 992 1,152 20,007 45 7°6 Common Gull ..