REPORT ON BIRD CENSUSES, 1916-1920. 27 



Perhaps the best idea we can get of the bird life of marshland is 

 given by a count made in 1916 on a 56-acre tract near Hinsdale, 111., 

 containmg 15 acres of oats, 10 of pasture, and 31 acres of marsh, about 

 20 acres being under water all the year. There were a few live wil- 

 lows about the edge and many dead trees in the marsh, and about 

 half the marsh was grown up to flag, cat-tails, and reeds. The 15 

 species of birds found nesting there were represented by 140 pairs 

 at the rate of 250 pairs per 100 acres, more than double the average 

 for farm land. This bears out the belief that such places are very 

 rich in bird life. The birds found were : 



Pied-billed grebe, 1 pair; black tern, 4; blue-winged teal, 1: least bittern, 2; king 

 rail, 1: Virginia rail, 9; American coot, fi; killdeer, 1; mourning dove, 3: bobolink, 

 2; red-winged blackbird, 68; meadowlark, 7; field sparrow, 11; swamp sparrow, 2; 

 long- billed marsh wren, 22. 



BIRD LIFE OF THE WOODLAND. 



The forested regions of the country have a much smaller bird popu- 

 lation than the open land. The deep woods are places of compara- 

 tive silence; there seem to be no birds there. Small patches of 

 woodland on the contrary, such as the woodlots of farms, are usually 

 very rich in bird life, especially if the underbrush is not kept cleared. 

 Particularly is this true when the surrounding fields are so much 

 under cultivation as to provide few good nesting sites but an abun- 

 dance of food. Very few reports of the birds breeding in heavily 

 timbered areas have been received, but those at hand indicate that 

 for each 100 acres of forest there are from 50 to 100 pairs, or an actual 

 average from the reports of about 68 pairs of nesting birds. For 

 the woodlots the bird population is nearly three times this, the re- 

 ports showing an average of about 182 pairs of birds per 100 acres. 

 This latter accords with the returns for 1914 and 1915, which gave 

 an average of 187 pairs of birds per 100 acres of such land. The 

 present figures for the population of the heavy forest, however, are 

 more than those previously obtained. This is probably accounted 

 for by the fact that some of the counts used in this average were 

 made near the edge of the forest, where birds are more abundant 

 than in the deeper parts. 



Three reports have been received which deal with the forests of 

 the Rocky Mountain region. On the east shore of Flathead Lake, 

 Mont., at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, 45 acres of forest contained 

 only 21 pairs of birds in 1916. In the same year 60 pairs were found 

 breeding on a tract of 120 acres near Falcon, Idaho, at an altitude 

 ranging from 4,500 to 5,000 feet. These two areas show approxi- 

 mately the same average of one pair to 2 acres. The same average 

 holds in the southern part of this region, according to the count 

 made in 1920 in the Santa Fe National Forest, previously mentioned. 

 It seems safe to assume, therefore, that 50 to 55 pairs of birds to 

 100 acres would be the average for the forests of this region and 

 probably also for similar land in the East. 



Only one report is on file for a continuous forested area in the 

 East, that made in 1920 by Charles L. Whittle on 562 acres near 

 Peterboro, N. H. This land, situated at an altitude varying from 

 800 to 1,200 feet, is a part of continuous second-growth timber, the 

 trees being from 20 to 40 years old, predominantly white pine, with 



