Second Sectional Bird Census, 1914 



Taken at Berwyn, Chester County, Pennsylvania 



By FRANK L. BURNS 



DURING the nesting seasons of 1 899-1 901, the writer undertook the 

 pioneer work of enumerating the avian population of a 640-acre tract 

 at Berwyn. (See 'A Sectional Bird Census,' The Wilson Bulletin, 

 No. 37, Dec. I, 1901.) The object of this census, taken in a section considered 

 fairly representative of southeastern Pennsylvania in fauna, flora and physical 

 features, was to determine approximately the number of individuals of each 

 species represented. In other words, to ascertain the total number of birds 

 inhabiting a given area, as a basis for comparison with a future bird-census 

 over the same or similar ground. After an interval of thirteen years, I now 

 present the results of a second census made in the nesting season of 19 14. It 

 shows, when compared with that of 1 899-1901, an estimated possible error 

 of less than five per centum. This is believed to be almost altogether in enume- 

 rating the common Sparrows. 



A preliminary survey, attempted during the season of 1913, served to keep 

 me in touch with the local bird-life; and a thorough canvass was made during 

 the past year, in which I spent a part of every day in the field, throughout the 

 long breeding-season. 



The tract surveyed includes a narrow strip of the Great Chester Valley 

 and a section of the south Valley hills (the watershed between the Schuylkill 

 and Delaware Rivers). It is well watered by numerous springs flowing through 

 deep ravines. About one hundred and seventy acres are in deciduous timber and 

 sproutland, one hundred acres in gardens and shaded lawns. The remainder 

 is in cleared land, much of which is not very highly cultivated, and a not in- 

 considerable portion is taken up in drives, highways, and railroads. 



Since my first survey there has been little change in the character of the 

 country, beyond a perfectly normal increase in buildings and inhabitants. 

 Two small ponds of less than an acre have been formed for the propagation 

 of trout for the market; a thirty-five-acre nursery set with shrubs, shade, and 

 forest trees; and about one hundred acres of woodland made into a private 

 park with numerous broad drives, and embellished with pines, dogwoods, 

 rhododendron, etc., in which gunning is discouraged and the wild things are 

 protected without discrimination. 



Naturally, my frequent rounds led to an intimate knowledge of many 

 individual birds and pleasant experiences without end. Of the six species 

 not on my previous list, the Turkey Vulture was found nesting for the first 

 time in what I had long regarded as the only suitable hollow stub in the woods. 

 The first Starlings penetrated the hills via the ravines, long after the main 

 host had reached the valley; and the Chestnut-sided Warbler, at an eleva- 

 tion of 525 feet, gave me my first, and the county its second breeding record, 



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