379 



In the upper third of the state, 95 per cent, of the surface was 

 in corn, small grain, and grass — 31 per cent, in corn, 2j per cent, in 

 small grain (nearly all of it oats), and 37 per cent, in the pasture 

 and meadow crops, about equally in each. In the central region the 

 area in corn rises to 46 per cent, of the whole, that in small grains 

 w^as about 26 per cent, (again nearly all oats), and that in the forage 

 crops w^as ly per cent, (the pasture lands nearly twice as extensive 

 as the meadows) — a total of 99 per cent, of the area examined which 

 was devoted to these great farm crops. In the lower third of Illmois 

 only 23 per cent, of the land w^as in corn, an almost ec'ual area (21 

 per cent.) w^as in small grain — more than half of it w^heat — and 

 44 per cent, was in grass, clover, and similar forage plants, rather 

 ec[ually divided between pastures and meadows. That is to say, the 

 areas in corn and small grains were nearly the same, and these to- 

 gether were barely equal to the meadows and pastures. The total 



Crop Areas. Per cent., 1907 



in all these crops w^as 88 per cent, of the area inspected, the remain- 

 ing 12 per cent, covering the orchards, the more open woods, the 

 waste and untilled lands, and a few additional minor items. 



Numbers of Birds by Crops 



Illinois is still a prairie state in the predominance of birds wdiich 

 prefer a grassy turf as an a1)iding place. Almost exactl}- half of those 

 recorded for the state in the summer of 1907 were from pastures and 

 meadow^s, although the total acreage in these lands was but 36 per 

 cent, of the entire area inspected. These figures are equivalent to 

 a density ratio on pastures and meadows of 1.39 for all the birds 

 of the state.* Com is an exotic crop in Illinois, and birds w-ere only 

 alwut a third as abundant in corn fields as in grass lands, while in 

 small grains thev w^ere nearh- t\^•^ce as abundant as in corn. The 

 acreage in these crops was such that 15 per cent, of all the birds of 

 the season w^ere fou.nd in corn fields and 22 per cent, were in small 



*That is, taking an average density of the hird population for the whole 

 area of the state as i, the density in pastures and meadows only is 1.39. 



