REPORT ON BIRD CENSUSES, 1916-1020. 



The English sparrow occurs in such large numbers about towns 

 and cities, and has there so crowded out the native birds, that it has 

 come to be considered the most abundant species in the country. 

 Happily this is not the case. Essentially a city dweller and finding 

 its most convenient nesting sites in the vicinity of buildings, it has 

 nevertheless spread into the rural districts, and a few pairs are 

 found about the buildings of nearly every farm. Since the counts 

 in most cases have been made on the part of the farm surrounding 

 the buildings, it seems not improbable that the figures include all 

 the English sparrows on the farms where counts were made and 

 consequently furnish a rather high rating for the farming district 

 as a whole. This species seem to be relatively more numerous in 

 the North Central States, the returns giving it first place in that sec- 

 tion, while in the Northeastern States it stands third or fourth, 

 being exceeded there by the robin and song sparrow, and one year 

 by the chipping sparrow also. Returns for the Northeastern States 

 show that in 1916 there was 1 pair of English sparrows to 17 pairs of 

 native birds of all species, while in 1920 this proportion dropped to 1 

 pair of English sparrows to 33 pairs of native birds. For this region 

 and period the record shows an average of two pairs of robins for 

 each pair of English sparrows. 



The kingbird has also attracted the interest of the writer. The 

 bird censuses show that though so widely distributed and well known, 

 it is far from abundant. Evidently intolerance of his own kind has 

 been a factor in earning for it the name of tyrant. For the five years, 

 1916 to 1920, the counts of the birds breeding in the fields and orchards 

 show an average of only 1 pair of kingbirds to 50 acres of such land. 



That large series of records are necessary before any conclusive 

 statement can be made regarding the relative abundance of the 

 different species, is shown by the following quotation from the pre- 

 liminary report of 1914: 4 



This preliminary census shows that the most abundant bird on the farms of the North- 

 eastern States [here meaning; both Northeastern and North Central as considered in 

 the present report] is the robin; that the next is the English sparrow; and that following 

 these are the catbird, the brown thrasher, the house wren, the kingbird, and the blue- 

 bird in the order named. 



Of the species then enumerated, the catbird is the only native 

 species besides the robin listed in the present report as among the 

 first six, and it falls well down the line. 



DENSITY OF BIRD POPULATION. 



No particular part of the country seems to have a monopoly on 

 density of bird population. The highest record for any considerable 

 area, i916 to 1920, inclusive, concerns 40 acres of Golden Gate Park, 

 San Francisco, where 404 pairs of birds representing 36 species wore 

 found breeding in 1916, something over 10 pairs of birds per acre. 



Next to this in point of abundance of birds is a part of the village 

 of Chevy Chase, Md., where, in 1916, in five blocks containing about 

 23 acres, there were found nesting 210 pairs of native birds represent- 

 ing 39 species, besides the ubiquitous English sparrow, of which there 

 were 14 pairs. This is a residential district, where birds have been 

 encouraged and protected, and the lawns are planted to shrubbery. 



■ V. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 187, p. 11. 



