REPORT OX BIRD CENSUSES, 1916-1920. 9 



veyed very favorable to bird life. The woodland in farms is usually 

 in comparatively small lots, and the figures indicate that the average 

 bird population of such plots is nearly four times as dense per acre as 

 that of the land devoted to crops. 



Under the designation ''fields" there are included, besides the 

 land in crops, the area in lawns about the houses, driveways, pasture, 

 and meadowland. It is obvious that the remainder of the farm, the 

 part not included in the counts, must be largely under cultivation, 

 and will therefore afford nesting places for very few birds. Exact 

 counts are needed from this part of the farm, in addition to those made 

 on the land surrounding the buildings, to determine just how many 

 birds do nest there. If these are made as separate counts, their 

 interest and value will be increased. 



The average farm in the Northeastern States contains between 

 97 and 98 acres, and the censuses here deal with 73 acres, leaving 

 about 25 acres unsurveyed. Most of these 25 acres are under culti- 

 vation, and returns indicate that under such conditions the bird 

 population is about 54 pairs per 100 acres, or 13 pairs on this section 

 of the farm. Since 94 pairs were found to inhabit the 73 acres 

 surrounding the buildings, the average farm of 97 acres would have 

 107 pairs of nesting birds. 



In the North Central States the average farm contains 123 acres, 

 79 acres of which are covered by the counts, leaving 44 acres not sur- 

 veyed, which must be largely under cultivation. In this section we 

 find that such land supports about 71 pairs to the 100 acres; therefore 

 these 44 acres would have 31 pairs of birds. The 79 acres of the counts 

 were found to have 107 nesting pairs, making a total of 138 pairs of 

 birds on the 123 acres of the average farm. 



The average bird population to the 100 acres on farms in the 

 Northeastern States is 111 pairs, and in the North Central States 

 112 pairs. 



RESULTS OF CENSUSES FROM SOUTHEASTERN STATES. 



Very few reports were received from the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, and, since only about half of them deal with farm land, the 

 I acreage covered by counts is much too small to allow any deductions 

 regarding the average bird population in this section as a whole. 

 Moreover, less than half the States of the section are represented by 

 these counts. Census returns indicate that the woods and improved 

 land of the farms in this section each represent between 46 per cent 

 and 47 per cent of the total acreage farmed, and that less than 1 per 

 cent is in orchard. 



FLORIDA. 



Reports received from Florida in 1916 concerned land which had 

 about 39 per cent in woods and 17^ per cent in crops, and showed 

 I less than one pair of breeding birds to the acre. 



ALABAMA. 



Land surveyed in Alabama in four different years averaged slight lv 

 over 52 per cent woods, 1 per cent orchard, and 34 per cent in crops. 

 For the four years this land supported an average bird population 

 44125— 23— Bull. 1165 2 



