The Roadside Census 121 



ill Open country Avitli few trees, or if there are no trees at 

 all, nests npon the gronnd. The main variations in the 

 (listribntion of the otlier birds depended on tlie distinction 

 in environments — the ]»rairie and tJie woods. T!ie prairies 

 are tlie homes of the Diclvcissels, Larlc 8]»arrows, Mea(h)w- 

 Jarks and Horned Larks; S^'is^o]--tailed Flycatcliers. KiiiiM;- 

 birds and Orchard Orioles like the prairie witli orchards, 

 bnt Ked-hf^adcd \^'o<>d])eckers and l^lnebirds were most 

 abundant in woods, especially where there are many girdled 

 trees. l*nri)le ^lartins depend, of course, on bird houses 

 and as nearly every dAvelling in southeastern Oklahoma 

 lias its Martin box, these birds were common there both 

 in the woods and on the prairies. Cliff Swallows were 

 seen on only five censuses; they were all in flocks in the 

 northeastern prairie districts. 



In order of total abundance on all 41 censuses, the 

 Idrds range as follows: Dickcissels, 687; Mourning Doves, 

 478; Mockingl)irds,.275; Meadowlarks, 213; Bluebirds, 202; 

 Horned Larks, 1()8; Lark Sparrows, IGG; Scissor-tailed Fly- 

 catchers, 124; Kingbirds, 102; Cliff Swallows, 99; Purple 

 Martins, 91; Ked-headed Woodpeckers, 90; Rob-whites, 71; 

 and Orchard Orioles, (U. 



Some birds had a wide distribution yet were nowhere 

 abundant; the Bob-white was the best instance of this, 

 as it was seen on 29 trips but only reached a total of 71. 

 Others in this same class \yeve Kingbirds, I\ed-headed 

 Woodpeckers and Orchard Orioles. Am)ther class were 

 limited to a somewhat i-estricted range but were usually 

 ai)undant where they did occur, as Horned Larks, ^feadow 

 larks and especially Dickcissels. Only two species were 

 almost universally distributed and at the same time abun- 

 dant — the Mockingbird and Mourning Dove. 



As to p]nglish Sparrows, they were, unfortunately, rhe 

 most common bird of all, since we saw 1486 of them — two 

 and a half times as many as the nu)st abundant native 

 bird, the Dickcissel. They constituted 28 per cent of all 

 the birds seen. They were recorded on 33 censuses, some 

 of the tri])s taken iu woods and those on the Wichita Game 

 Beserve being almost the onlv ones free from them. Thev 



