THE WORLD RECORD FOR FEATHERED FRIENDS 
HE world’s record for density of 
| bird population is held by a farm 
within ten miles of the National 
Capital, near Bethesda, Md. It is owned 
by Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor, the Director 
and Editor of the National Geographic 
Society. 
In 1913 Mr. Grosvenor bought a farm 
of 100 acres, half in forest and half in 
field, about four miles from the District 
of Columbia, moving there early in the 
spring. 
Being interested in the work of the 
Audubon societies, he determined to see 
what he and his family could do to get 
birds around the home. He had such 
success that Dr. H. W. Henshaw, Chief 
of the U. S. Biological Survey of the De- 
partment of Agriculture, became inter- 
ested and delegated Dr. Wells W. Cooke 
to visit the Grosvenor farm. 
Dr. Cooke found so many birds there 
that he suggested a census of those living 
on an acre or two adjacent to the house, 
as he thought the count would establish a 
world’s record. Up to that time the rec- 
ord was held by a family at Chevy Chase, 
Md., who had attracted thirteen pairs of 
birds to half an acre. 
The prospect of establishing a world’s 
record was so inviting to the Grosvenor 
family that they took a census of the 
nesting birds on an acre adjoining their 
house and barns, with the result that they 
found 59 pairs of birds with young or 
eggs in the nest on that acre, the highest 
number of land birds inhabiting one acre 
that has yet been reported to the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture or to any Audubon 
Society. A similar census was made of 
a second acre, and it was found that this 
acre had 33 pairs of nesting birds. 
In an article contributed to Bird-Lore, 
the bimonthly organ of the Audubon so- 
cieties of the United States, Mr. Grosve- 
nor tells a fascinating story of the birds 
which have come to dwell with them at 
“Wild Acres,” as his farm is named. 
“Wild Acres” is a typical Maryland 
farm, with an old-fashioned farm-house 
98 
surrounded by an apple and pear orchard, 
with a vegetable garden, hedges, and open 
fields. Surrounding the fields is a tract 
of 50 acres in woods, with a beautiful 
stream and several springs scattered 
around in both the fields and the woods. 
The bird census taken in the week of 
June 15 to June 21 showed that on the 
first acre they had one pair of flickers, 
one pair of bluebirds, one of yellow 
warblers, two of orchard orioles, two 
of catbirds, one of song sparrows, two of 
chipping sparrows, one of pheebes, 14 of 
house wrens, seven of robins, one of 
kingbirds, and 26 of martins. 
On the second acre there were one pair 
each of song sparrows, Carolina wrens, 
flickers, Maryland yellow-throats, brown 
thrashers, catbirds, chipping sparrows, 
screech-owls, and towhees. There were 
also 18 pairs of martins, four of house 
wrens, and two of robins. 
“T attribute our success primarily,” 
writes Mr. Grosvenor, “to shooting the 
English sparrows and driving the cats 
away, to putting up many boxes, to keep- 
ing fresh water handy at all times, etc. 
We do everything we can for the comfort 
of our birds. For instance, we put on 
twigs little pieces of the oiled paper that 
our butter was wrapped in, and we left 
mud in convenient places for the martins. 
The catbirds used the oiled paper for 
their nests; in fact, they used all kinds of 
scraps. Imagine the delight of the family 
when, on examining one of the catbirds’ 
nests in the autumn, we found one of the 
children’s hair-ribbons and also a piece 
of an old dress of the baby! 
“We had read a great deal about how 
tame birds become when they are pro- 
tected, but we were constantly amazed at 
the quickness with which they perceived 
the care taken of them. Perhaps the 
most remarkable nest was that of a 
pheebe, which was built under the cornice 
of the piazza within reach of my hand. 
We had a little school in the morning at 
the house, and ten children were contin- 
usually running up and down the piazza, 
