REPORT OX BIRD CENSUSES, 1916-1920. 



the other bottomland; one a dairy farm, the other devoted princi- 

 pally to grain raising; or because the trees of one are largely hard- 

 woods and of the other, evergreens. Or one farm may have a very 

 large bird population, while an adjoining farm of the same size has 

 few birds, the first having a large orchard or much shrubbery and 

 many trees, while the second has few trees or is intensively cultivated. 



The majority of the censuses thus far received have resulted from 

 counts made on that Dart of the farm surrounding the house and 

 other buildings, including the garden, the orchard, and the lawn 

 with its shrubbery and shade trees. Here are many attractive nest- 

 ing sites and an abundant food supply, and here also will be made 

 most of the efforts toward attracting birds, by the placing of food, 

 nest boxes, and bird baths. This is the part of the farm, therefore, 

 where birds are most abundant. 



According to the decennial census of 1910, the average farm in the 

 section north of Maryland and east of the Plains contains 108 acre-, 



• Less fhan 3 yeans 

 + 3years or more 



Fig. 1. — Localities from which reports on bird censuses were received for the five years 1916 to 1920. 



of which 1.2 per cent, or about \\ acres, is orchard. The counts from 

 this section covered an average of about 76 acres each, including \\ 

 acres of orchard, which represented nearly 6 per cent of the total 

 land surveyed, and on the above basis would be over 4 per cent of 

 the farm. To the birds the orchard is the most attractive part of 

 the farm. Since the farms on which these counts were made had 

 about four times the normal acreage in orchard, they must be regarded 

 as unusually rich in bird life. 



The records deal principally with the 76 acres of the farm about 

 the buildings, and for the five }^ears show an average population of 

 100 pairs of breeding birds. There remain unsurveyed about 32 

 acres of the more thoroughly cultivated parts of the farm that con- 

 tain little woodland and probably few birds. Judging from counts 

 made on farms that were largely under cultivation, the average bird 

 population of these 32 acres would probably be little, if any. over 

 20 pairs. For this five-year period, therefore, the farm of 10S acres 



