no Bird -Lore 



Of the many species maintaining their number, several have done so against 

 heavy odds. The owner of by far the largest estate for some years paid a 

 substantial bounty for every Crow shot upon the place during the corn-grow- 

 ing season. However, five pairs of Crows, the normal number, successfully 

 reared their broods. The male Cooper's Hawk met death as he attempted to 

 snatch his eighteenth chicken in the presence of the owner, yet his mate hatched 

 and reared her brood within a stone's throw of the same coops. 



Of the decreasing species, the smaller numbers of scarcely one can be 

 attributed altogether to local causes; though a scarcity of suitable nesting- 

 sites, particularly among the least adaptive Warblers and Swallows, doubtless 

 has more or less effect. The single pair of non-breeding, second-year Purple 

 Martins were always house-hunting. Locally, the English or European 

 House Sparrow has developed super-sensitiveness to our American winters; 

 yet it has become so uniformly distributed in the United States, east of the 

 Mississippi River, that I have no hesitancy in making an approximate estimate 

 of 165,000,000 individuals, based on my conservative figures. 



Likewise, the marked increase of certain Woodpeckers, Sparrows, and 

 Thrushes is doubtless as much due to protection during migration as to favor- 

 able local conditions. The enumeration happened upon a year of enormous 

 increase of the Kentucky Warbler, similar to that of 1897, which was followed 

 by a rapid decrease the following years. I have the impression that the Wood 

 Thrush and the Robin are super-abundant, particularly the latter in a restricted 

 territory; the loss it occasions in early cherry and strawberry crops is not 

 inconsiderable. It is unfortunate that the most abundant species is not bene- 

 ficial; but I am happy to say that of the first twenty species in point of abun- 

 dance, comprising almost six-sevenths of the total number of individuals, six- 

 teen species are wholly beneficial. 



My records show a loss of two species and a gain of thirty-six individuals, 

 a by no means discouraging prospect. However, as several species scarcely 

 average a pair to four or five square miles, and almost one-half of the species 

 enumerated are represented by from one to three pairs only, it seems inevit- 

 able that a further reduction must occur. The tendency seems to be toward 

 a less varied fauna and an increase of individuals of the more adaptive species, 



CENSUS OF BREEDING BIRDS 



Individuals 

 Species 1899-1901 1914 



10. Screech Owl 8 6 



11. Yellow-billed Cuckoo 8 4 



12. Black-billed Cuckoo . 2 



13. Hairy Woodpecker . 2 



14. Downy Woodpecker .10 18 



15. Red-headed Woodpecker 2 2 



16. Northern Flicker . S 12 



17. Nighthawk 2 



iS. Chimney Swift .... 32 36 



