'^te Btttution Societies; 



SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL WALTER 



Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the Editor, 67 Oriole Avenue, Providence, R. 1. 



TAKING A ROBIN CENSUS 



In previous issues, various methods have been described of stimulating 

 interest in bird-study not only in schools but also throughout civic centers. 

 During the spring of 1915 a public-spirited business man in the city of Sterling, 

 Illinois, undertook to awaken the people, and especially the school-children in 

 his vicinity, to an appreciation of their bird-neighbors by conducting a Robin 

 Census. Although elderly, occupied with cares, and handicapped by deafness, 

 this man determined to pass on to others the joy of a knowledge of birds, a joy 

 which had come to him late in life, — he writes: "l was fifty years old before I 

 took great notice of birds," — and accordingly he visited each of the three 

 public schools of the city explaining his plan for taking a Robin Census in 

 April. To quote his words: "The teachers and the boys fell in with it at once 

 and there was much enthusiasm developed." Sterling lies along the north 

 shore of Rock River and is about two miles from east to west, and one-half 

 mile wide, making nearly a mile square, or 640 acres, fully covered with dwell- 

 ings. Its population is nine or ten thousand. 



The method employed in conducting the census was competitive. In each 

 of the three public schools of the city a captain was named, under whom was a 

 corps of young boys who did the counting, and reported the results to the cap- 

 tain. The count began at 5 a.m. when nearly all the Robins in the census area 

 were on the ground feeding. Starting at the base of each avenue at the river, 

 one boy on each side worked north to the city limits, in this way covering the 

 area quite thoroughly. Making due allowance for errors in counting, the final 

 result was thought to be a fair average since, while some birds may have been 

 counted twice, it is probable that not every bird in the area was on the ground 

 as the observer passed. The total count numbered 3,252 Robins. Mr. George 

 P. Perry, the organizer of the census says that fully twice that number of 

 Robins might have been seen in Sterhng by June of the same year. 



Of the three schools which took part in the census, Central School led with 

 a record of 1,386 Robins; Lincoln School came next with 1,077, and Wallace 

 School third, with 789. The largest single number recorded by any pupil was 

 164 and the smallest 18. Only four pupils observed over 100 Robins. Sixty- 

 three boys took part in the contest. The interest created, however, extended 

 far beyond the three schools immediately concerned, as the results of the 

 census were printed in detail in one of the city papers, giving wide publicity 



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