BIRDS OF MARSHALL COUNTY 63 



136. Zariiclodia ludoviciana. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. An 

 abundant summer resident from April 26 to September 27. From 

 May 12 to 14, 1914, three grosbeaks were picked up dead on the 

 streets of Marshalltown and brought to me and I found a fourth 

 one. Examination indicated that they had been killed by striking 

 something. This was the mating season and the males were 

 furiously chasing each other through the tree tops. The telephone 

 wires are placed along the streets beside the trees, often running 

 between the branches, and it is probable that these wires were 

 responsible for the destruction of these birds. 



A completed nest was found May 14, 1915. The earliest date 

 that I have for a nest with eggs was May 22, 1914 (one egg) and 

 the latest was June 25, 1914, of a nest containing newly hatched 

 young. 



137. Passer ina cyanea. Indigo Bunting. A common summer 

 resident from May 3 to September 26. This species and the red- 

 eyed vireo were the two conspicuous summer songsters of the 

 region. Both, sang persistently through the long hot summer days. 

 A nest with two eggs was found by flushing the female from it 

 on June 30, 1915, at Mormons Ridge. This nest was built in a 

 tangle of vines and bushes along a fence. 



138. Spisa americana. Dickcissel. A common summer resident 

 from May 3 to August 21. A partly completed nest was found 

 June 25, 1914, in a big thistle. On July 4 this nest contained four 

 eggs and July 18 the young birds left the nest when I approached 

 to examine it. A nest containing four young and a cowbird egg 

 was found July 13, 1914, and one with three young on August 6, 

 1914. These nests were built in hazel bushes in open pasture. 



139. Piranga erythromelas. Scarlet Tanager. An uncommon 

 summer resident from May 3 to July 29. At times the scarlet 

 tanager was quite common during May but was never found in 

 numbers at any other time. A nest containing two eggs and one 

 cowbird egg was found on June 26, 1915, at Mormons Ridge. It 

 was a loosely woven structure of grass and roots and was about 

 twelve feet from the ground in a small elm tree. 



140. Progne siibis subis. Purple Martin. An abundant summer 

 resident from April 3 to September 7. They usually did not appear 

 until about the middle of April and the bulk were gone by August 

 20. A large colony nested in the Court House tower and several 

 smaller colonies were scattered about town in bird houses. No 

 nests were actually opened and so no dates for egg laying can be 

 given. 



