PRELIMINARY CENSUS OF BIRDS. 9 



the block. Each house was surrounded by a yard of from half an 

 acre to 1£ acres, the whole being abundantly supplied with large 

 trees of oak and other hardwoods. Most of the houses in this sec- 

 tion had been built within the last 10 years, but the area previous 

 to that time was covered with heavy timber and as manj as possible 

 of the large trees had been preserved. In addition, an abundi 

 of smaller trees and ornamental shrubs occupied a large proportion 

 of the ground and there was almost a minimum of lawn for houses 

 situated with _such extensive grounds. The whole area is a resi- 

 dential section, containing no public buildings and occupied by a 

 cultured class of people, many of whom have become interested in 

 the subject of bud protection, with the result that numerous bird 

 boxes have been put up and also a number of bird lunch counters for 

 winter feeding. Practically all enemies of birds have been eliminated 

 except the domestic cat, and its numbers here are below the average 

 for such communities. 



The result of all these conditions is that the village swarms with 

 birds. When attempting to take a bird census in the early morning 

 by counting the singing males, the chorus was so numerous at times 

 that it was impossible to distinguish the individual songsters. The 

 census showed 34 different species nesting on the 23 acres, with a 

 total of 148 pairs of native breeding birds and 13 pairs of English 

 sparrows. The most numerous species was the robin, 19 pairs; and 

 following this came the catbird, 18 pairs; the purple grackle, 17; 

 the house wren, 16; and red-eyed vireo, 10 pairs. Robins and cat- 

 birds were easily the most conspicuous species and their numbers 

 alone were 50 per cent higher than the total normal bird population 

 of this area. The presence of a very large number of cherry trees 

 in each of the blocks — many of these trees being 30 to 40 feet high — 

 as well as an abundance of bush fruits, may account for their spe- 

 cially large numbers. Almost all the cherries on these higher trees 

 were left for the use of the birds. 



It was noticeable that the blocks most thickly inhabited by people 

 were also most fully occupied by breeding birds. This is a striking 

 refutation of the widespread belief that human beings and birds are 

 naturally antagonistic, and that as the population of the United 

 States increases the number of the birds must necessarily decrease. 



RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF BIRDS. 



One of the most abundant birds in the United States, possibly the 

 most abundant bird, is the robin. It is also one of the most sociable, 

 and in the northeastern part, where it is most abundant, it commonly 

 nests close to farm buildings but almost never in extensive woods. 

 Its numbers are exceedingly variable in the localities represented by 



