244 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
A Brief Account of Some of the Common Feathered Tenants of the 
Farm. 
BY DR. B. H. WARREN, STATE ZOOLOGIST. 
The bird fauna of Pennsylvania embraces over three hundred 
species and sub-species. This large number includes birds which 
are found in this Commonwealth as resident and transitory visitors. 
Species such as the crow, downy woodpecker and English sparrow, 
which live in a particular region during all months of the year are 
termed by naturalists residents. The term winter resident is 
applied, usually, to those species which migrate northward and rear 
their young, as many of them do, in the Arctic regions, but reside 
here during the winter season. The snowy owl, snow bird, shore- 
lark and tree sparrow are winter residents. 
Summer residents are native birds, or those which spend the 
winter in the tropical, sub-tropical and warmer temperature regions, 
and in the spring migrate northward to their breeding grounds. 
The house wren, cat bird, robin, oriole, swallows and blackbirds 
are familiar examples of summer residents. Various warblers and 
many Other land birds, as well as numerous representatives of the 
water birds occur in this State, only during the fall months. They 
are designated spring and fall migrants. 
A bird which wanders, as is often the case, from its usual geo- 
graphical range is called a straggler or accidental visitant. The 
ereat importance of protecting the common and beneficial birds 
does not, unfortunately, seem to be appreciated by the majority of 
our citizens. This appears to be particularly true of the many 
farmers and fruit growers who do not make any effort to acquaint 
themselves with the true economic status of the most common birds 
which inhabit their premises. As a result of this inatlention many 
species which shonld be protected are regarded with disfavor. . 
Notwithstanding the fact that this State a few years ago paid, 
in a period of less than a year, about ninety thousand dollars 
($90,000) for the destruction of hawks and owls, a large proportion 
of which were shown by careful investigations made under the 
direction of the State Board of Agriculture, to be highly serviceable 
o 
