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Breeding habitats for birds in deciduous forests of the eastern and central United States are becoming increasingly fragmented by human activities. Avian communities in small, isolated forest tracts are generally subsets of the communities present in larger forests (Blake & Karr 1987; Hayden et al. 1985); species that are intol-erant of habitat area reduction are frequently termed" area-sensitive." Severe declines in songbird populations, particularly those of forest-interior-breeding neotropical migrants, have been linked to the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats (Lynch & Whigham 1978; Robbins 1979; Whitcomb et al. 1981). Detailed studies of the dynamics and constitution of small populations in relict habitats are needed (Lande 1988).

Data on the presence of species over a range of patch sizes of suitable habitat have been analyzed to estimate the minimum patch size at which an area-sensitive species …