384 



for the whole state, we have 920 to the mile for meadows, 878 for 

 pastures, 562 for small grain, and 300 for corn. Or, if we take the 

 number per square mile for the entire state as i, 1.36 will be the 

 density ratio for pastures, 1.43 for meadows, .87 for grain fields, 

 and .47 for corn fields. 



Summer Birds in Crops, 1907 



Looking to the composition in species of this midsummer pasture 

 population, we find that more than half the summer resident birds 

 of Illinois pastures belong to five species — the English sparrow, the 

 meadow-lark, the crow-blackbird, the horned lark, and the field-spar- 

 row, relatively abundant in the order named ; and this statement is 

 almost as true of the three sections of the state as it is of the state 

 as a whole. Comprising nearly 53 per cent, of the pasture birds of 

 the entire state, these five species made 49 per cent, of those of north- 

 ern Illinois, 61 per cent, of those of central Illinois, and 47.5 per 

 cent, of those of southern Illinois. Indeed, the first four of these 

 species were the most abundant pasture birds of the whole state for 

 the whole year, occurring there in the following numbers : English 

 sparrows, 1,394; crow-blackbird, 696; meadow-lark, 686; horned 

 lark, 603 ; and field-sparrow, 230. These are consequently our most 

 typical pasture birds. In the pastures of the state at larg-e the Eng- 

 lish sparrow w^as the most abundant species, making 20 per cent, of 

 all the birds seen in pastures during the summer months, and the 

 meadow-lark was nearly as common, making 17 per cent, of these 

 birds. The meadow-lark was, indeed, the >iiost abundant pasture 

 bird in both southern and central Illinois, the sparrow surpassing it 

 only in the northern division of the state. The homed lark, on the 

 other hand, was second in northern Illinois, but tenth in both cen- 

 tral and southern Illinois, and fourth for the state as a whole. The 

 crow-blackbird was third on the list for the whole state, fourth for 

 southern Illinois, third for central, and sixth for northern Illinois. 



Ten species comprised more than two thirds of the pasture birds 

 of the state, and these same ten species made 63 per cent, of the 



