Program  ESTIMATE is an old FORTRAN program to estimate  survival and recovery
rates from  band-recovery  data. A more modern, flexible program for this type
of analysis is program MARK (a Windows program written by Gary White) which is
available at the following web site:


http://www.cnr.colostate.edu/~gwhite/mark/mark.htm.

There is no "user's manual" for this program, but the methods used by the
program (and some outdated instructions) are described in:

Brownie, C., D.R. Anderson, K.P. Burnham, and D.S. Robson. 1985.
	   Statistical Inference from Band Recovery Data-A Handbook.  2nd 
           edition.  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Resource Publication 156.
          
Input  data for  ESTIMATE  consists  of a vector of  bandings  and a matrix of
recoveries from those bandings.  Output consists of survival and recovery rate
estimates under a sequence of models.

An example follows:

PINK FOOTED GOOSE DATA (FROM BOYD. 1956. J. ANIMAL ECOL.)
  3  41950
  32  22  16   7
      70  50   9
          57  29
  301  766  897

In this example, birds were banded in 3 years and recoveries  were recorded in
4 years. Banding began in 1950 when 301 birds were banded; 32 recoveries  were
reported in 1950 from the cohort  banded in 1950.  During 1952, 16  recoveries
were reported from the cohort banded in 1950, 50 recoveries were reported from
the cohort  banded in 1951, and 52  recoveries  were  reported from the cohort
banded in 1952. 897 birds were banded during the final year of the  experiment
(1952).  This  example  data set is  discussed  and  analyzed  by Seber (1970.
Biometrika).

The program (ESTIMATE) can be run on-line via the following web-site:

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/software/estimate.html

where an input text box will accept the input file described  below. The usual
procedure  for  running  the  program on the web is to create an input file on
your PC, select all of the text and copy to the clipboard, then paste the text
into the input box in your web  browser.  Then  click the  'Perform  Analysis'
button. Output will appear in the web browser.

FORTRAN source code for ESTIMATE is available from the following web site:

ftp://pwrcftpr.er.usgs.gov/research/software/source/estimate.zip

A PC DOS executable version of the program can be downloaded from:

ftp://pwrcftpr.er.usgs.gov/research/software/estimate.zip.

The DOS executable version of ESTIMATE  (estimate.exe) must be run in an MSDOS
window under WINDOWS. Input should be created as a 'ascii text' file using one
of the two formats  described below. Output will be displayed on the screen by
default, but should be redirected to an output file for evaluation.

Two sample input data files are included in the zip archive:

ESTIN1 is an example data file using the old format where the recovery  matrix
and banding  vector were aligned by column. Each entry in the recovery  matrix
occupies  4 columns  and  entries in the  banding  vector  occupies 5 columns.
Blanks are read in as zeros. The first line  contains the title  (alphanumeric
description  of the data). The  second  line  contains  the number of years of
banding (columns 1-3), the number of years of recovery (columns 4-6), followed
by a 4-digit number indicating the first year of banding. Following line 2 are
lines  making up the  recovery  matrix (4  columns  each). The last line (or 2
lines if there are more than 16 years of banding) is the vector of bandings (5
columns  each).  Note in this  example  that  when  there  are  10,000 or more
bandings  in a year,  there is no space  separating  the  numbers in  adjacent
years.

ESTIN3 is an example  data file which uses the  modifications  to ESTIMATE. By
entering  '(*)' on the  parameter  card (the second line of input),  free form
input can be used for the recovery  matrix and banding vector (ie. numbers are
separated  by a space, and don't have to be placed in specific  columns).  The
numbers in the second line still have to be placed in specific columns.

To run  ESTIMATE  on the  example  input  file  ESTIN1 and send  output to the
printer, open an MSDOS window, change to the directory  (folder) where program
ESTIMATE resides, then type:

estimate <estin1 >prn

If you have questions, problems or comments with this program please contact:

                            Jim Hines, Computer Specialist - USGS
			    Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
                            11510 American Holly Dr. Rm 201
			    Laurel, Md. 20708-4017

			    Phone:(301)(301)497-5661
                            fax:(301)497-5667
                            internet: jim_hines%40usgs.gov