382 



pastures to 297 in meadows ; while in central Illinois this relation 

 was reversed, the number in pastures being 274 to the mile, and that 

 in meadows 189. That is, while 100 pasture birds were represented 

 in northern Illinois by 148 in meadows, and in southern Illinois by 

 242, in central Illinois they were represented by only 69. Since the 

 southern Illinois observations were made in June, those for central 

 Illinois in July, and those for northern Illinois in August, one nat- 

 urally looks to differences in season, in the advancement of the crops, 

 or in agricultural operations as related to the haunts and habits of 

 these birds, for an explanation of their apparent shift from meadows 

 to pastures in July in central Illinois, and a seemingly plausible ex- 

 planation is suggested by the fact that haying was mainly done dur- 

 ing July in the central part of the state, but was not yet fairly be- 

 gun in southern Illinois in June and was nearly over in northern 

 Illinois in August. 



Pasture Birds per Square Mile. Summer, 1907 

 Meadozv-larks 



If, however, the meadow-larks were disturbed to this extent by 

 the operations of making and saving the ha)^ crop, one would expect 

 to find the other distinctively meadow birds similarly affected — a 

 supposition which is not borne out by the facts of our record. Be- 

 sides the meadow-larks, there w^ere five common species more abun- 

 dant in meadows in one or another section of the state than in any 

 other important situations ; namely, the red-winged blackbird, the pur- 

 ple grackle, the vesper-sparrow, the grasshopper sparrow, and the 

 dickcissel. Each of these species was, moreover, more abundant in 

 meadows than in pastures in each section of the state — in central 

 Illinois as well as in the other two^ — ^excepting only the grackle in 

 southern Illinois. Taking all five of these birds together, there were 

 in northern Illinois 200 to the square mile in meadows and 50 in 

 pastures, in central Illinois 131 and 54, respectively, and in southern 

 Illinois 371 and 120. In other words, for each hundred of these 



