THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY 

 SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



Vol. VII, No. 5] JUNE, 1913. [r.^xViX"! 



THE BIRDS OF KANSAS. 



C. D. BUNKER. 



(Contributions from the Zoolo^ii-al Laboratory, No. 204.) 



THE geographical position of Kansas makes the study of 

 its bird life particularly interesting. The state has a 

 broad range of varying faunal areas. It is divided north 

 and south by the meeting of the Upper and Lower Austral 

 Zones, near the southern boundary, while the east and west is 

 divided, in the Upper Austral, into the Carolinian and Upper 

 Sonoran Zones. The Carolinian fauna is the most important, 

 being dominant over approximately the eastern two-thirds of 

 the state, except an irregular strip on the south which belongs 

 to the Austroripaj-ian. These faunal areas are becoming more 

 clearly defined for the various species of birds, as the Bio- 

 logical Survey work is extended. 



During the summer and fall of 1911, C. D. Bunker and 

 T. A. Rocklund, of the University of Kansas Museum, in the 

 interest of the State Biological Survey, made a wagon trip 

 along the parts of the south, west, and north borders of the 

 state, covering a distance of 1500 miles, while collecting in 

 thirty-eight counties. The year was very unfavorable, in that 

 it was exceedingly dry. In the western part of the state the 

 vegetable life was entirely burned up, making the bird life 

 unusually scarce. Nevertheless, about 1000 birds were col- 

 lected, representing 84 species and varieties, 8 of which were 

 new to the state. In 1912, from September to November, these 

 same men worked the counties of Trego, Lane, and Gove, col- 

 lecting some 700 birds. 



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