20 TH EA UD U BiOrN. .B Ui aa 
THE CHRISTMAS BIRD CENSUS—1968 
by Mrs. Harry C. Spitzer 
That's what it says—The Christmas Bird Census—1968"! This is a 
cry for HELP! After composing a lengthy article, detailing ways 
for you to assist in the compilation of the 1968 census report and 
table, we discarded it, because two brief sentences will do: 
1. Please submit typewritten reports— 
no field cards! 
2. Please mail promptly to the address 
below, as soon as possible after 
Count day, so that all reports will 
be in my hands by January 13, 1969. 
Remember, you are working with only one or two reports: we 
handled thirty last winter, and the work sheets cannot even be ruled 
until all reports are received. Late reports will be omitted—as it is, 
we never fail to spend many extra hours revising and refiguring. 
Stragglers, pay attention! 
Many thanks for your cooperation. DON’T SEND REPORTS TO 
THE MUSEUM—send to MRS. HARRY SPITZER, 1776 Roger Avenue, 
Glenview, Illinois 60025. 
ft ft ft fT 
MIGRATION FLUCTUATIONS: 
One Flooded Acre in McHenry County, III. 
by MRS. KENNETH FISKE 
This table is submitted to show the importance of even the smallest marshy 
area in attracting a variety of species and an impressive number of in- 
dividual birds during migration. Amateur birdwatchers can study such 
areas, and these analyses should be encouraged in terms of their possible 
use in saving valuable, yet often overlooked, habitat ... now rapidly 
disappearing. 
The studied site was a low corner, barely a square acre, of a field two 
miles east of Woodstock. This field was planted in soybeans in 1967 and 
is in the reserved acreage program this year. McHenry County Chapter 
members have been educated and entertained for the last three years, but 
plans call for its drainage, so the future does not look bright for water 
birds or bird watchers. 
In the spring of 1967 the county water level in general was high. Many 
fields were flooded. Birds first came to this flooded acre on April 30. No 
birds were found after May 29, and the acre was completely dried up by 
