Bird Clubs 291 



available in the form of bulletins issued by the 

 federal and state departments of agriculture, 

 respectively, leaflets published by the Audubon 

 Societies and books written by specialists. 



A very important piece of work recently 

 suggested by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey at Washington, 

 should also interest all bird clubs looking for 

 new outlets for their enthusiasm. It consists 

 of making bird censuses during the nesting 

 season, in order to find out how many pairs of 

 the different species of birds breed within defi- 

 nite areas. Mr. Henshaw suggests three dif- 

 ferent kinds of censuses. To make the first 

 and most important, which we will call Census 

 A, it is suggested that you select an area not 

 less than forty acres and not more than eighty 

 acres, representing fairly average farm condi- 

 tions, including farm buildings, shade trees, 

 orchards, plowed land, and pasture or meadow, 

 but without woodland. The second census, 

 which we will refer to as B, would be made on an 

 isolated piece of woodland ten to twenty acres 

 in extent, situated conveniently near the first 

 tract, and the third census desired, which we 

 will call C, is that of some definite area of wood- 

 land, forty acres perhaps, forming part of a 

 much larger tract of timber, either deciduous 



