4 BULLETIN 396, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



taking and exhaustive hunting out of the nests themselves. During 

 two different years, in less than three hours of one morning, he made 

 a survey of a 50-acre field which was supporting a bird population 

 of some 30 species and about 75 pairs, and obtained results so nearly 

 correct that continued observation on the field for the remainder of 

 the season made scarcely any change in the figures thus obtained. 



PLANS FOR THE 1915 COUNTS. 



As the returns from the 1914 counts had shown that the method 

 pursued gave satisfactory results, the same method was employed 

 in 1915. A circular of detailed instructions was sent to each person 

 who offered to help in the work. This was widely distributed ; calls 

 for additional bird enumerators also were inserted in the principal 



Fig. 1. — Places from which bird-count reports were receivevd in 1915. 



ornithological journals; and in various other ways the matter was 

 brought to the attention of those interested in birds. As a result 

 about 315 reports, from every State in the Union, except Utah and 

 Nevada, were received in 1915. As shown by the accompanying 

 map (fig. 1), these are fairly well scattered over the country, but the 

 largest proportion comes from the northeastern part of the United 

 States, as was the case in 1914. 



RESULTS IN THE NORTHEASTERN STATES. 



The bulletin publishing the results of the bird enumeration of 

 1914^ discussed at some length the work on farms of the North- 

 eastern States. The most interesting phase of the 1915 returns is a 

 consideration of the two counts from the same section to see whether 

 the agreement is close enough to indicate accuracy in the 1914 con- 

 clusions. 



»Bull. 187, U. S. Dept. Agr., Feb. 11, 1915. 



