Ih 



1958 



Scott: Wii.di.ii-I'; Ri:sii.\RLH 



183 



into the future to a greatly increased hu- 

 man population and a more intensive 

 land-use program seem to be returning 

 to P'orbes' "let's face the inevitable" phi- 

 losophy of 1912. rhey seem willing to 

 stand by while part of our wildlife her- 

 itage, the prairie chicken, for example, 

 goes down the drain. Foreign game birds 

 are being feverishly investigated and re- 

 leased with the hope of finding species 

 which will supplement populations of na- 

 tive game birds being reduced by a chang- 

 ing habitat. In anticipation of the time 

 when shootable wild game populations 

 will no longer meet the demand, there are 

 the programs for pen-rearing game birds 

 to be released under the gun. The root- 

 ing out of osage orange hedges throughout 

 the state is symbolic of the cancerous-like 

 growth in activities designed to bring in- 

 creasing amounts of land into agricul- 

 tural, residential, or industrial use. Public 

 realization of the vital importance of 

 habitat in the management of a wildlife 

 resource is showing growth ; however, the 

 area of desirable wildlife habitat, espe- 

 cially that for upland species, is continu- 

 ing to shrink. Thus, the most perplexing 

 problem of the wildlife manager in Illi- 

 nois today is that of developing and pro- 

 tecting suitable habitat. 



RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS 



A review of outstanding contributions 

 made to wildlife biology and conserva- 

 tion by employees of the Illinois Natural 

 History Survey and its parent organiza- 

 tions will aid understanding of work in 

 these fields during the first 100 years. A 

 few publications by non-Survey personnel 

 are cited to provide perspective or to 

 recognize Survey publications by workers 

 who were not employed by the Survey. 



Birds 



Contributions on the biology and con- 

 servation of birds may be conveniently 

 grouped into three classes: those for non- 

 game, those for upland game, and those 

 for migrator}' game hird'^. 



Nongame Birds. — Of the meadow- 

 lark, Forbes ( 1 88 U: 234-5) wrote: 



He is first cousin to the Indian, the prairie- 

 wolf and the badger, but with a better knaciv 



than they at adapting:; hiniseli to the new lite 

 of civilization. He is a perfect reflection of 

 his most constant surroundings — with a 

 bosom of prairie butter-cups, a back like the 

 dead grass of autumn, and a song that harmo- 

 nizes well with the whistling of prairie winds. 



This colorful description reveals some- 

 thing of Forbes' deep feeling for birds. 

 Sentiment, however, is not evident in 

 his systeiTiatic and painstakingly conserva- 

 tive evaluations of the place of birds in 

 an economic scheme of things. 



Forbes' research on the food of birds 

 constituted a milestone in ornithological 

 history. "No part of the recent work of 

 the Laboratory has excited a wider inter- 

 est than that relating to the food of 

 birds" (Forbes 1880/: 7). This work 

 established Forbes among contemporary 

 ornithologists as the ranking authority 

 on the insect food of birds. Dr. Elliott 

 Coues (1883:105) believed him to be 

 "Our best authority upon the insect food 

 of birds ..." Drs. Clarence M. Weed 

 and Ned Dearborn (1903:19-20) con- 

 sidered Forbes' publications on the food 

 of birds to be "classic papers" and "the 

 basis for the inodern development of 

 economic ornithology." 



The findings of Forbes' studies of the 

 food of birds appeared in a number of 

 papers. The most substantial contribu- 

 tions, however, were brought together in 

 two papers (Forbes 1880(i, 1883<7). The 

 first dealt with the food of certain birds 

 in the families Mimidae and Turdidae. 

 The second reported observations on the 

 regulative action of birds feeding on an 

 excessively high population of canker- 

 worms and vine leaf chafers. The latter 

 paper, "The Regulative Action of Birds 

 Upon Insect Oscillations," was approved 

 by Indiana University in fulfillment of 

 Forbes' thesis requirements for the Ph.D. 

 degree granted in 1884 (letter of May 2, 

 1952, from E. Lingle Craig, Reference 

 Librarian, Indiana University, to Mar- 

 guerite Simmons, Librarian, Illinois Nat- 

 ural History Survey). Of lesser im- 

 portance were notes on the food of the 

 meadowlark (Forbes 1881/'), the English 

 sparrow (Forbes 1881r), and the kinglets 

 (Forbes 1883r/). 



The scope of these investigations may 

 be seen in the following report (Forbes 

 1882^:5-6): 



