ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 11 



are such shrubs as sumach, blackberry, gooseberry, black haw and others. 

 For the greater part of the year the little creek in this ravine has running 

 water in it. To the east of this ravine is a strip of about six acres of rather 

 level land given to a growth of timothy and bluegrass. North of our ath- 

 letic field is a two-acre thicket of small saplings of various trees, berry 

 briars and many shrubs. The rest of the campus so far as environment is 

 concerned is a well-kept park. The only marsh near the campus is a strip of 

 about two acres adjoining it near the southwest corner. Although strictly 

 speaking not a part of the campus, notes on the birds nesting in this strip 

 are included in this report. It will be seen from these remarks that the 

 campus is varied enough in topography and vegetation to appeal to birds 

 of widely varying nesting habits." 



Summer Residents 



"Between the dates of February 21st and July 22nd, 1916. one hundred 

 ten species of birds were seen on our Normal School campus. Twenty-four 

 of these species nested here. In all. two hundred eight nests were built, in 

 which were deposited four hundred sixty-seven eggs, two hundred sixty of 

 which hatched. Sixty-three of the young birds were destroyed before they 

 were old enough to leave the nest, which leaves one hundred ninety-five 

 successfully reaching that age. As the data concerned an area of about 

 sixty-three acres, there were on average about three and a half nests per 

 acre. 



"The species of birds building these nests and the number of nests built 

 by each species is as follows : 



Robin 64 Field Sparrow 3 Bronzed Grackle 2 



Brown Thrasher 30 Orchard Oriole 2 Kingbird 1 



Mourning Dove 29 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2 Yellow Warbler 1 



Catbird 21 Cardinal 2 Bobwhite 



Meadowlark 15 Screech Owl 



Flicker 9 Towhee 



Blue Jay 7 Chipping Sparrow 



Bluebird 5 Baltimore Oriole 



Red-Winged Blackbird. 4 Tufted Titmouse 



Cedar Waxwing 1 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 



Unidentified 3 



208 



"Cowbirds' eggs were found in five of the nests and. should they be 

 counted as 'nesting on the campus,' it would raise the number of species to 

 twenty-five. 



"In order that data might be kept on this large number of nests, the 

 campus and the two-acre strip adjacent to it were divided into ten sections, 

 each of which was assigned to two or more students who were responsible 

 for the data concerning the nests in it. These data were to embody : 



1. Kind of nest. (Species of bird.) 



2. Position and location of nest. 



3. Date on which first egg was laid. 



4. Date on which each successive egg was laid. 



5. Date on which each bird was hatched. 



6. Dates on which the young left the nest. 



7. Duration of egg incubation (from 4 to 5.) 



8. Duration of brooding of young (from 4 and 5.) 

 "Unfortunately, however, only in few instances w 7 ere all these data 



obtained. In order that the data might show the duration of egg incubation 



