A Technique for Recording Migratory Orientation of Captive Birds

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Abstract
A simple, inexpensive technique is described for obtaining data on oriented Zugunruhe in captive migrants. Test birds are placed in small, wide-mouthed funnels of white blotting paper mounted over moist ink pads and topped with screen covers. Each time a bird hops, it leaves inked footprints on the sloping blotting paper in the direction of the hop before sliding back down to the pad. The footprint records on the blotters then can be translated into numerical terms suitable for statistical evaluation.