edo saw iQ Ne BU ds G Esl N 5 
ILLINOIS NESTING RECORDS - 1963-1964 
Compiled by Milton D. Thompson, Museum Director 
and Orvetta Robinson, Librarian, Mlinots State Museum 
First we wish to apologize for not returning the Nesting Reports to the 
editor for publication in last year’s Audubon Bulletin. The manner of col- 
lecting was becoming so cumbersome that the problem of transferring the 
data to a usable form has forced us to change our method to conform with 
other Bird Nesting Report forms being used around the country. In 1964 
for the first time we used the nesting report cards in which one nest was 
reported on each card. We find that on the report card we get the informa- 
tion we want, as a rule, more complete and in better form than we did on 
the data reporting sheet that we used previously. There seems to be a 
national awakening of the importance of reporting data accurately for 
future use. So much information that has been given in recent publications 
and books on nesting distribution and habits often is material gathered 
before the turn of the century. The face of our landscape has changed so 
completely that we need to have up-to-date information on changes in bird- 
life. 
The distribution of the reports has changed considerably in these two 
reports over previous ones. Contributors are more scattered over the entire 
state. We have lost four of our major contributors from the northwest, un- 
glaciated area of the state, and as a result, have no report from Jo Daviess, 
Carroll and Whiteside counties. 
1963 1964 
Contributors 19 al 
Reports 194 oot 
Species 5D 65 
Counties 12 15 
While five counties reported in the 1962 report were not represented in 
1963 and 1964, we did pick up reports from 11 new counties not previously 
reported. The tables of reports by counties and by observers are included. 
Even though these reports. are greatly abbreviated for publication, the 
Museum does maintain a file of the reports submitted and during the past 
year we have had three different requests for their use by people doing 
research projects on this material. While the report continues to be heavy 
with those birds which nest around our homes, there is increasing evidence 
that more of you are seeking out the nests of unusual birds and reporting 
them to us. 
I do wish to caution all of you in this work to observe nests with great 
caution. I can’t help but wonder if the small proportion of successful nests 
from this group of reporters does not, to some extent, reflect careless 
visitation of the observer to the nest, thus leaving the way open to pre- 
dation and other forms of destruction of the nest. We urge you all to be 
particularly circumspect in your observations of nesting species. Do not 
é€xamine the nest more closely than necessary to obtain the data. Do not 
disturb the foliage protecting the nest from view or drive the birds from the 
nests so frequently as to cause them to abandon it. 
