THE WORLD RECORD FOR FEATHERED FRIENDS 



THE world's record for density of 

 bird population is held by a farm 

 within ten miles of the National 

 Capital, near Bethesda, Md. It is owned 

 by Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor, the Director 

 and Editor of the National Geographic 

 Society. 



In 1913 Mr. Grosvenor bought a farm 

 of 100 acres, half in forest and half in 

 field, about four miles from the District 

 of Columbia, moving there early in the 

 spring. 



Being interested in the work of the 

 Audubon societies, he determined to see 

 what he and his family could do to get 

 birds around the home. He had such 

 success that Dr. H. W. Henshaw, Chief 

 of the U. S. Biological Survey of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, became inter- 

 ested and delegated Dr. Wells W. Cooke 

 to visit the Grosvenor farm. 



Dr. Cooke found so many birds there 

 that he suggested a census of those living 

 on an acre or two adjacent to the house, 

 as he thought the count would establish a 

 world's record. Up to that time the rec- 

 ord was held by a family at Chevy Chase, 

 Md., who had attracted thirteen pairs of 

 birds to half an acre. 



The prospect of establishing a world's 

 record was so inviting to the Grosvenor 

 family that they took a census . of the 

 nesting birds on an acre adjoining their 

 house and barns, with tlie result that they 

 found 59 pairs of birds with young or 

 eggs in the nest on that acre, the highest 

 number of land birds inhabiting one acre 

 that has yet been reported to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture or to any Audubon 

 Society. A similar census was made of 

 a second acre, and it was found that this 

 acre had 33 pairs of nesting birds. 



In an article contributed to Bird-Lore, 

 the bimonthly organ of the Audvibon so- 

 cieties of the United States, Mr. Grosve- 

 nor tells a fascinating story of the birds 

 which have come to dwell with them at 

 "Wild Acres," as his farm is named. 



"Wild Acres'' is a typical Maryland 

 farm, with an old-fashioned farm-house 



surrounded 1)y an api)le and pear orchard, 

 with a vegetable garden, hedges, and open 

 fields. Surrounding the fields is a tract 

 of 50 'acres in woods, with a beautiful 

 stream and several springs scattered 

 around in both the fields and the woods. 



The bird census taken in the week of 

 June 15 to June 21 showed that on the 

 first acre they had one pair of flickers, 

 one pair of bluebirds, one of yellow 

 warblers, two of orchard orioles, two 

 of catbirds, one of song sparrows, two of 

 chipping sparrows, one of phoebes, 14 of 

 house wrens, seven of robins, one of 

 kingbirds, and 26 of martins. 



On the second acre there were one pair 

 each of song sparrows, Carolina wrens, 

 flickers, Maryland yellow-throats, brown 

 thrashers, catbirds, chipping sparrows, 

 screech-owls, and towhees. There were 

 also 18 pairs of martins, four of house 

 wrens, and two of robins. 



'"I attribute our success primarily," 

 writes Mr. Grosvenor, "to shooting the 

 English sparrows and driving the cats 

 away, to putting up many boxes, to keep- 

 ing fresh water handy at all times, etc. 

 We do everything we can for the comfort 

 of our birds. For instance, we put on 

 twigs little pieces of the oiled paper that 

 our butter was wrapped in, and we left 

 mud in convenient places for the martins. 

 The catbirds used the oiled paper for 

 their nests ; in fact, they used all kinds of 

 scraps. Imagine the delight of the family 

 when, on examining one of the catbirds' 

 nests in the autumn, we found one of the 

 children's hair-ribbons and also a piece 

 of an old dress of the baby ! 



"We had read a great deal about how 

 tame birds become when they are pro- 

 tected, but we were constantly amazed at 

 the quickness with which they perceived 

 the care taken of them. Perhaps the 

 most remarkable nest was that of a 

 phoebe, which was built under the cornice 

 of the piazza within reach of my hand. 

 W'e had a little school in the morning at 

 the house, and ten children were contin- 

 usually running up and down the piazza, 



