8 



BULLETIN 1165, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



had an average bird population of 120 pairs, while in 1914 and 1915 

 the average was estimated to be 119 pairs. Fluctuations in the 

 number of birds per acre that occurred from year to year may be 

 noted in Table 1. 



Table 1 summarizes the results of censuses taken on farm land in 

 this section for the five years 1916 to 1920. For the sake of the 

 rather interesting comparison possible and because conditions in the 

 eastern part were somewhat different from those in the western, this 

 section was divided into two parts — the Northeastern States, includ- 

 ing New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and 

 the North Central States, those north of the Ohio River between 

 Pennsylvania and the Plains; and the results have been so tabulated. 

 Only four years' records are included for the first-named division 

 because of the limited number of reports covering farm land received 

 in 1919. 



According to the 1910 census, the farms in the Northeastern States 

 have, on an average, slightly over 58 per cent of the land improved, 

 and in the North Central States, nearly 76 per cent. Allowing for 

 a few acres of hay on each farm, the areas surveyed in both sections 

 have approximately 50 per cent of the land improved, making these 

 tracts above the normal farm in the proportion of the land that is favor- 

 able to bird life; especially when the large acreage of orchard repre- 

 sented is considered. 



Table 1. — Results of bird censuses of farm land in the Northeastern and North Central 



States, 1916 to 1920. 



Northeastern States. 



North Central States. 



Average size of area covered by each 



count acres. . 



In fields do 



In orchard do 



In woodland do 



In plowed land (field crops other 



than hay) acres.. 



Proportion of the land covered in— 



Fields per cent . . 



Orchard do 



Woodland do 



Field crops other than hay 



per cent.. 



Average bird population on each area 



counted pairs. . 



Average bird population per 100 acres 

 on land counted pairs. . 



1916 



1917 



1918 



11 



14 



13 



37 



75 

 8 

 17 



72 

 10 

 18 



20 



47 



102 



98 



159 



124 



55 



95 



1920 



Aver- 

 age^ 

 years. 



12 



28 



75 

 9 

 16 



36 



94 

 132 139 



1916 



31 



1917 



1918 



38 



150 



1919 1920 



116 



97 

 12 

 7 



84 | 

 10 ! 



68 31 

 156 112 

 135 124 



Aver- 

 age^ 



79 



63 



4 



13 



33 



79 

 4 

 17 



42 



107 



135 



In the northeastern section this small amount of cultivated land 

 may be partly balanced by the relatively small proportion of wood- 

 land. .The census of 1910 indicates that the woodland comprises 

 27.2 per cent of the farm, but only slightly over 16 per cent of the 

 land on which counts were made was in woods. In the North Central 

 JStates, however, the woodland of the tracts counted was about 3 per 

 cent in excess of the normal as given by the census, which, in conjunc- 

 tion with the small proportion in crops and the large amount of or- 

 chard — the latter over three times the normal — makes the land sur- 



