BuUlIui Xo. /S. 7 



but inclining to be in groups. Their record is ; 4, 3, 3, 2, and three sin- 

 gles. The first Goldfinch was with a company of ten Tree Sparrows, 

 then a company of seven in a weedy yard with a Downy Woodpecker, 

 and three feeding near an osage orange hedge-row. These and the Blue 

 Jays were the most erratic. The Flickers were solitary individuals, 

 widely separated; both were in orchards. The Chickadees and ten of 

 the Downy woodpeckers were in pairs, or more properly doubles. The 

 Chickadees were in shade and ornamental trees; all but one of the Downy 

 Woodpeckers in orchards, and this one was feeding upon weed seeds in a 

 weedy yard with Goldfinches, as stated above. The comradeship of but 

 two individuals, with these two species, was very marked. It was a 

 great disappointment not to find more Nuthatches. This one was in an 

 orchard. Ttie Pigeon Hawk and Bronzed Grackle were undoubtedly 

 more accidental than regular. The Grackle was hiding away in the 

 thick foliage of an evergreen tree. 



The entire absence of the Hairy Woodpecker, Song Sparrow and 

 Golden-crowned Kinglet was a great surprise. A further search would 

 probably have revealed them. 



Comparing this small number of wild birds with the superabundance 

 of English Sparrow?^, we are forced to the conclusion that there must be 

 upwards of ten thousand English Sparrows inside of the three-quarter 

 mile limit. In the aggregate this seems a large number, but when we 

 realize that this gives less than twenty to the acre, and that the blocks 

 average more than ten acres each, it does not seem too liberal. The 

 sparrows gave us far more trouble than all else combined, both on 

 account of their constant noise and the necessity of watching each one 

 to be sure it was not some other species. 



This super-abundance of sparrows gives at least a suggestion of the 

 reason why the native wild birds are so few. There simply is not room 

 for them, nor food enough for them and the sparrows too. The presence 

 of the Pigeon Hawk, and the occasional appearance of the Sparrow 

 Hawk well within the city limits is pleasantly suggestive. Tree Sparrows 

 are far more numerous outside of town, and English Sparrows are never 

 seen in the country, except about country houses, in winter. 



Three distinct difficulties were encountered in making the census, each 

 one of them serious. First and most serious was the Sparrow; second, 

 the noise of passing vehicles, and third, the small boy with his whistle 

 and lusty voice. Such little things as high picket and wire fences, 

 thorny hedge-rows, inquisitive house-keepers, and threatened incarceration 

 as lunatics are not to be considered. Thev are incidents of the trade 



