ier eee we UT BON: Bae bb Eeb-L N 15 
Yes, civilization seems to be good or at least not bad for the birds. 
An important question is, “What birds?” As every bird lover knows, 
Robins don’t nest in swamps, and Upland Plovers don’t pick up angle 
worms on suburban lawns. Each species of bird has habitats it likes 
better than others. When favored habitats decline, either the species de- 
clines or the species finds substitute habitats. 
Graber and Graber studied Illinois habitats as well as Illinois birds. 
They found that in the half century between census periods some habitats 
(orchards and marshes, for example) had decreased in acreage and that 
other habitats (row crops, forests, urban areas, for example) had increased. 
The shifts in habitats had caused shifts in bird populations. While the 
total numbers of birds in summer were about the same and the total 
numbers of birds in winter had increased, the numbers of many of the 
species that people value and love the most had decreased. 
Among the species showing considerable population decreases in the 
half century were the Brown Thrasher, Orchard Oriole, . Yellow-billed 
Cuckoo, Mockingbird, Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Chipping Sparrow, Red- 
headed Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Kingbird, Blue Jay, 
and Upland Plover. Even the Robin showed some decrease in numbers. 
One species, the Horned Lark, had found a better habitat in modern 
machine-harvested cornfields than in fields available a half century before. 
The Redwinged Blackbird, although deprived of much of its marshland 
habitat, had quickly adapted to fields of planted hay and small grain. 
These two species, the Cardinal, the Dickcissel, the Red-bellied Wood- 
pecker, and some others had increased considerably in numbers. 
But a disturbingly large part of the total (winter plus summer) popula- 
tion increase in the half century can be accounted for by the Starling. As 
the Grabers look at the trends that Illinois civilization and birds are taking, 
they predict increasing numbers of the Sparling and the House (English) 
Sparrow (two nuisance species) and decreasing numbers of many of the 
best-loved species. 
Maybe it depends on how you say it: “Civilization is for the birds.” 
Natural Resources Building, Urbana, Illinois 
fi A ta! ist 
REDWINGS KILLED BY ELECTRIC FENCE 
By Harlan Dean Walley 
On June 5, 1963, four miles north of Sandwich, DeKalb County, Illinois 
(Melvin Stall farm), I discovered two Redwinged Blackbirds (Agelaius 
phoeniceus) hanging by one foot from a fence row. The first Redwing 
was found suspended from a wire carrying a pulsating six-volt shock 
alternated with a twelve-volt shock every sixth time. One wing was 
grounded by an adjacent permanent fence. The purpose of the extra sixth 
shock is for the burning off of plants which would normally grow up 
around the fence and short it out. 
A second blackbird was found on the opposite side of the field hang- 
ing from the permanent fence, which is approximately two inches from 
the pulsating electric fence. This bird was apparently killed while at- 
tempting to step from the grounded permanent fence to the electric wire. 
In both cases the feet were badly scorched or burned. It is apparent that 
hoth birds died instantly, or they would have fallen from the wire. 
717 North Elm St., Sandwich, Illinois 
