PRELIMINARY CENSUS OF BIRDS. 7 



scale received of a true forest comes from near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 

 and this shows 254 pairs of breeding birds on 768 acres, or one pair 

 to 3 acres. The heavy timber of New England, of the mountains of 

 Pennsylvania, of northern Michigan, and of northern Wisco 

 would certainly contain a bird population no more numen 

 that shown in Idaho, for it is well known that the heavy fores' i [ 

 astern mountains is a region of silence. 

 On the other hand, whatever land of the nonfarmed area is not 

 covered by forest, whether it is marsh or rocky hillside, is fairly well 

 supplied with birds and probably averages nearly as hig] 

 avian population as the farm land. An estimate, therefore, of 

 pah of birds for each 2 acres on such nonfarmed land would be f i 

 accurate. 



DEDUCTIONS FROM THE CENSUS. 



NUMBER OF BIRDS TOO FEW. 



That the present bird population is much less than it ought to be 

 and much less than it would be if birds were given proper protection 

 and encouragement is the most important deduction from this pre- 

 liminary census. An approximate average of one pair of birds to each 

 acre of farm land was found, but individual censuses show that it is 

 possible, under strictly farm conditions, very largely to increase this 

 number. Near Wellington, Va., a tract of 49 acres of a dairy farm, 

 of rather less than the average of plowed land, supported a bird popu- 

 lation of 137 pairs, or 3 pahs to the acre. The 15 acres surrounding 

 a farmhouse at Port Byron, 111., though more than half under cultiva- 

 tion, was found to contain 50 pairs of birds — a little more than 3 pairs 

 to the acre. An 80-acre tract at La Grange, 111., is described as 

 " mostly dry upland; about 25 acres are covered with crops; very 

 little pasture, one small orchard, two small swamps; no roads going 

 through it, and in fact, this area is typical of the vicinity of La 

 Grange;" yet this area showed 219 pairs of birds, or nearly three times 

 as many as the average for the State. A similar area at Albany, Mo., 

 " selected because it is ideal for the census, containing all the required 

 conditions," was divided into 14 acres of plowed land, 27 acres of hay- 

 fields, a brushy pasture, with a little heavy timber along the banks 

 of a small stream, and the customary farmyard, orchard, garden, etc. 

 The conditions for bird life were probably more favorable than the 

 average, but not sufficiently different to account for the 298 pairs 

 of birds nesting on the tract. A 40-acre farm at Rantoul, Kans., has 

 30 acres in clover and alfalfa, but the owner says that one strictly 

 enforced rule on this ranch is protection for the birds, and that tr 

 have been planted and groves arranged especially for nesting sites. 

 The remaining 10 acres contain the buildings, 2 acres of orchard, 3 

 acres of groves, and a 2-acre artificial pond that never goes dry. The 



