PEELIMINAEY CENSUS OF BIEDS. 7 



scale received of a true forest comes from near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 

 and this shows 254 pairs of breeding birds on 768 acres, or one pair 

 to 3 acres. The heavy timber of New England, of the mountains of 

 Pennsylvania, of northern Michigan, and of northern Wisconsm 

 would certainly contain a bhd population no more numerous than 

 that shown in Idaho, for it is weU known that the heavy forest of 

 the eastern mountains is a region of silence. 



On the other hand, whatever land of the nonfarmed area is not 

 covered by forest, whether it is marsh or rocky hillside, is fairly well 

 supphed with birds and probably averages nearly as high in its 

 avian population as the farm land. An estimate, therefore, of one 

 pair of birds for each 2 acres on such nonfarmed land would be fairly 

 accurate. 



DEDUCTIONS FROM THE CENSUS. 



NUMBER OF BIRDS TOO FEW. 



That the present bird population is much less than it ought to be 

 and much less than it would be if birds were given proper protection 

 and encouragement is the most important deduction from this pre- 

 liminary census. An approximate average of one pair of birds to each 

 acre of farm land was found, but individual censuses show that it is 

 possible, under strictly farm conditions, very largely to increase this 

 number. Near Wellington, Va., a tract of 49 acres of a dairy farm, 

 of rather less than the average of plowed land, supported a bird popu- 

 lation of 137 pairs, or 3 pairs to the acre. The 15 acres surrounding 

 a farmhouse at Port Byron, 111., though more than half under cultiv-a- 

 tion, was found to contain 50 pairs of birds — a little more than 3 pairs 

 to the acre. An SO-acre tract at La Grange, 111., is described as 

 "mostly dry upland; about 25 acres are covered with crops; very 

 little pasture, one small orchard, two small swamps; no roads going- 

 through it, and in fact, this area is typical of the vicinity of La 

 Grange;" yet this area showed 219 pairs of birds, or nearly three times 

 as many as the average for the vState. A similar area at Albany, Mo., 

 "selected because it is ideal for the census, containing all the required 

 conditions," was divided into 14 acres of plowed laml, 27 acres of hay- 

 fields, a IjFushy pasture, with a little heavy timber along the banks 

 of a small stream, and the customary farmyard, orchard, garden, etc. 

 TTh; conditions for bird life wcro proba})ly more favorable tlian the 

 average, })ut not sufficiently difn^rcTit to account for tlie 298 pairs 

 of birds nesting on the tract. A 40-acre farm at Rantoul, Kans., has 

 30 acr(!S in <;lover and alfalfa, but the owner says tliat one strictly 

 enforced rule on. tfiis ranc.li is protection for the ]>irds, and that tnu's ' 

 have been planted and groves arranged especially for nesting sites. 

 Tlie remaining 10 acres contain th<i buildings, 2 acres of orchard, 3 

 acn^ of groves, and a 2-ucre artificial ])oud that n(!ver go(!s (hy. The 



