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more than 500 cards on file for Tree Swallow, Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Song ’ Sparrow, Black Duck, and Osprey, and over 200 cards for 19 other species.

The M.N.R.S. is coordinated by the Canadian Wildlife Service, but relies on voluntee cooperators for the nesting records. Cooperators record their nest observations on b" x 6" printed cards supplied by the Canadian Wildlife Service. Those cards are submitted to the Scheme's repository at the end of the nesting season, and an annual report on the Scheme's holdings is prepared and sent out to all cooperators. In addition to receiving cards from naturalists, the repository annually receives a large number of cards from wildlife biologists and technicians who in the course of their field duties record nesting information on birds. Also, the Scheme often serves as a repository for field data collected by researchers studying the breed- ing biology of a particular bird species.

Over the years members of the P.E.I. Natural History Society have contributed to the success of the M.N.R.S.. The M.N.R.S. repository now contains 2&93 cards on file for 96 species of birds from Prince Edward Island ( see Table 1). In 1979 eight cooperators submitted a total of 72 cards for P.E.I. (see Table 2), down signific— antly from the 219 and 272 cards sent in during the previous two years (see Table

3).

The aim of the M.N.R.S. is to provide a permanent repository for bird nesting data in the Maritimes, and to make it available to all researchers studying the breeding biology of birds. Cards are normally loaned out for a three week period and cards for rare or threatened species may in some cases not be released without special clearance due to a possible threat to these birds if their nest locations are widely known. On the average, seven . to ten researchers have annually borrowed cards from the Scheme. .While use of the Scheme has not been extensive, the data bank has made significant contributions to several research studies, and has been most useful in planning numerous other projects. As the data bank accumulates more cards, it will become increasingly more attractive to researchers studying nesting success. Generally at least 500 cards of a species are needed from any one region in orde to allow comparison with Other sub-samples.

Through the efforts c dedicated individuals the M.N.R.S. repository ex- pands its holdings each

year by approximately 6%. The Scheme encourages people to look at birds and t nests with care and judg - ment. That activity stim- ulates an awareness and understanding of our wild— life heritage, and through the standardized recordin of their observations a significant contribution is made to a scientific data repository.