The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-11-18
1915 BIRD COUNT.
i24 Pairs on Average Farm in Northeast
lbs Pairs to 100 Acres in Plains.

lbs Pairs to 100 Acres in Plains.
One hundred and twenty-four pairs of
birds nest and raise their families on
the average farm of l0s acres in the
northeastern states, according to esti-
mates based upon the second annual bird
count conducted by the biological sur
vey OF the L. S. department of agrcul.
ture. In that part of the plains re.
gion east of the Tooth meridian the count
would indicate almost exactly the same
density of bird population, 1875 pairs of
nesting birds to each 100 acres. In the
southern states, where the counts were
limited to the part OF the farm sur.
rounding the home, which naturally sup
ports more birds than titled areas, there
seem to be on the farms where counts
were taken l3l pairs of nesting birds
to each 100 acres. The counts so far
received, however, from these sections
do not furnish sufficient basis for esti-
mating the birds on the remainder of the
farm.
In the northeastern states it was esti.
mated that the average bird population
OF each 100 acres of isolated woodland
under observation was 100 pairs, while
the average bird population for each 100
acres OF the area covered was l25 pairs.
The reports from the Rocky mountain
states would Indicate that the bird pop
ulation is smaller in this section.
Three s00-acre tracts in New Mexico
indicated IL pairs to so acres, or 81 pairs
to each 100 acres. Still farther west in
the irrigated district of western Colorado
two reports indicated that irrigated land
in orchard and in fields of grain and root
crops supported bird population of Sc
pairs per 100 acres, but on contiguous
non-irrigated land the bird life shrank
to five pairs for 100 acres. In Arizona
a 4O-acre tract containing only few
houses, and for the most part covered
with desert shrubs, showed bird pop
ulation Of so pairs of rs species, OF which
22 were insectivorous. A semi desert
tract of the same size, covered with
brush mostly less than six feet high, |
showed 81 pairs OF l6 species. In the
mountains OF Arizona, near Flagstaff
tract of 70 acres covered with yellow /!
pine and Gambel oak supported bird |
population of 81 pairs Of Is species.
In California 20 acres of the campus
of the University of California showed I
81 pairs of 20 species. A tract near
Gilroy, Cal, containing 30 acres of fruits
and about eight acres of pasture and I
creek bottom, gave the unusual figure I
Of l76 pairs of 81 species on SO acres
A similarly dense, though less varied,
bird population was found in a 52.aere /
peach orchard near Port Clinton, o. This
showed l08 pairs of common farm birds,
30 pairs of purple martins and six pairs
If English sparrows. total of $50 pairs
If 20 species.
In the south the counts showed an
average of II pairs of 90 species and
i've pairs of English sparrow on SO acres
n Florida; in Louisiana an average of
IS pairs of 20 species on So acres and
he counts from Texas indicate an aver
lge of 81 pairs Of birds of II species on
70 acres The average of all counts re-
eived from the southern states is 10
,airs of birds of % species on a farm
# So acres.
On the $50 acres on the Cornell uni
ersity campus at Ithaca, n. Y, very /
areful study indicated 5T3 pairs of nest
ng birds, an average of l66 pairs of ma
i've nesting birds per 100 acres, and SO
esting birds of English sparrows per !
90 acres. or a total of 225 nesting birds ,
er 100 acres. A similar count made ]
ear Rhinebeck. n. Y, in a 2l0-aere see +
ion indicated 81 different kinds repre- =
ented by 800 pairs, nearly the same per /
ere AS shown at Cornell university. /
The result of the 1915 bird count just 7
ublished by the biological survey indi-
ate an average of eight pairs of robins Q
nd six pairs of English sparrows on |
ach farm of 109 acres where the count a
as made in the northeastern states. The a
verage of all reports for two years c
low seven of robins and five and one Z
alf of English sparrows for each farm n
,vered in this section.