124 BIRD FRIENDS 



census of birds for about fifteen years. These re- 

 cords have now been kept long enough to throw 

 some light on the question as to whether the winter 

 birds have changed in numbers. In " Bird-Lore " 

 for January-February, 1914, was published a sum- 

 mary of the reports from 1901 to 1911. Graphs are 

 shown representing the abundance of ten species 

 for the different years. The graphs for four species 

 are very regular and show practically no change 

 during the ten years. The graphs for five species 

 are quite irregular, showing fluctuations from year 

 to year, but on the average there is no tendency 

 toward any regular change, either an increase or a 

 decrease. 



Mr. Frank L. Burns made a bird-census during 

 the nesting-seasons of 1899-1901 of the birds found 

 on a 640-acre farm in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Thir- 

 teen years later, in 1914, he made another census 

 of the same area. In the first census he found sixty- 

 two species represented by 1388 individuals; in 

 the last census he found sixty species represented 

 by 1424 individuals. This would seem to indicate 

 that on the whole birds were holding their own on 

 this area. Mr. Burns writes, " The tendency seems 

 to be toward a less varied fauna and increase of 

 individuals of the more adaptive species." 



United States census of birds. The Bureau of 

 Biological Survey has begun taking a series of cen- 

 suses which will eventually answer the question as 



