Eee ACD UIBO Ne BU ETN 25 
Birds and Agriculture 
By R. J. H. De Loacu 
The State of Illinois has an area of 35,867,520 acres of land. Of this 
about 90 per cent goes to make up the 225,000 farms in the state. The 
balance is in public lands, including parks, reservations and waterways. 
The farms of the state are estimated to have a total value of $5,000,000,000, 
and to produce annually $441,000,000 of crops and $259,000,000 of live- 
stock. 
It will thus be seen that the farms of the state have a high money value, 
and a large annual income. It becomes the responsibility of the entire 
citizenship to preserve and protect this natural wealth. The annual produc- 
tion of farm wealth is vitally influenced by wind and weather, and by the 
control of fungus diseases and insect pests. It happens that bird life is re- 
lated to the control of insect pests and birds are, therefore, a most vital 
factor in agricultural success. 
Do we know what is the bird population of the country or the various 
states? Do we know how many birds there are to the square mile or to 
the acre? Estimates have been made by many writers on bird life. The 
only official report we have seen is the following, which was taken from 
the 1920 edition of the World’s Almanac, and from a report of E. W. 
Nelson, Chief of the Bureau of the Biological Survey: 
“Early in the summer of 1914 the Biological Survey of the United 
States Department of Agriculture took initial steps toward a count of the 
birds of the United States for the purpose of ascertaining approximately 
the number and relative abundance of the different species. The preliminary 
count proved to be so satisfactory that the survey repeated it on a larger 
scale in 1915 and extended it over a still greater area in 1916 and 1917. 
The results obtained in 1914 have been surprisingly corroborated by those 
of succeeding years, and the work gives promise of producing, after a series 
of years, results that, in view of the recognized value of birds to agricul- 
ture, cannot fail to be of great value. It has been ascertained through these 
counts that birds in the agricultural districts in the Northeastern United 
States average slightly more than a pair to the acre, though in parts of 
the arid west and on the treeless plains this number dwindles to an average 
of half a pair, or even less, to the acre. 
“By far the most abundant birds in the United States are the robin 
and the English sparrow, but several others are common enough to make 
their total numbers run well into the millions. The counts so far show 
that the most abundant bird on farms in the Northeastern states is the 
robin, next to this is the English sparrow, and following these are the cat- 
bird, brown thrasher, house wren, kingbird, and bluebird, in the order 
