24 Door Yard List of Birds. 



the most favorable time of the year, by any means, for finding 

 birds, yet I was surprised almost every day by some new vis- 

 itor. I wish I might have kept a list for a whole year there. 

 I would be willing to wager that in the course of twelve con- 

 secutive months, ninety or one hundred different species of 

 birds could be seen or heard in this yard or flying over it. 

 The list which I have, I am sure could have been made much 

 larger, but my school duties kept me away from eight o'clock 

 in the morning to foiir in the afternoon. 



The best find of the period, for myself at least, was Bew- 

 ick's Wren. He came on one of the last days of the period, 

 a cool, cloudy day. I had a good look at him, for he did not 

 seem to notice my presence much He was investigating 

 •everything around, especially through the large wood pile. 



It was just a few rods down the road that I found three 

 Leconte's Sparrows one week, but I found none right in the 

 yard. 



One wet, foggy morning, just before leaving for school, I 

 happened to look out of the window to a cedar tree, a few 

 feet from the house. It was fairly swarming with little birds 

 and warblers. Among them were Kinglets, an Ovenbird, 

 Black-throated Green Warblers, Yellow Warblers, a Myrtle 

 Warbler, and two or three which I could not identify. 



One evening just before twilight, I could hardly believe my 

 ears when, from a little clump of bushes, came an occasional 

 "chewink" of a retiring Towhee. I investigated more closely 

 and watched for some time a female Towhe from a distance of 

 only six feet. 



Taking it all in all, I found the numbers of individuals in 

 this region of southeastern Iowa far larger than here about 

 Oberlin. My first of January all day horizon, published in 

 the first Bulletin of 1903, was a good example of this fact. 

 Especially was this true of the Larks, Blue Jays, Warblers 

 and Sparrows. 



Following is the complete list of birds found in the yard I 

 have described: 



Mourning Dove, few; Screech Owl, few; Hairy Woodpecker, few: 

 Downy Woodpecker, few; Red beaded Woodpecker, tolerably common; 

 Red-l>ellied Woodpecker, few; Northern Flicker, tolerably common; 

 Chimney Swift, common; Nighthawk, few; Crested Flycatcher, few; 

 Wood Pewce, few; Prairie Horned Lark, 2; Blue Jay, common; Ameri- 

 can Crow, few; Meadowlark. tolerably common; Baltimore Oriole, few; 

 Bronzed Grackle, common: English Sparrow, common; American Gold- 

 finch, tolerably common ; Whitethroated Sparrow, few; Field Sparrow, 

 few; Slate-colored Junco, few; Towhee, 1; Barn Swallow, few; Warb- 

 ling Viero, few; Yellow Warbler, few; Myrtle Varbler, 1; Chestnut- 

 sided Warbler, 1; Black throated Green Warbler, 2; Oven-bird, 1; Cat- 

 bird, few; Brown Thrasher, few; Bewick's Wren, 1; House Wren, few; 

 Whitebreasted Nuthatch, few; Chickadee, tolerably common; Golden- 

 crowned Kinglet, few; Ruby crowned Kinglet, few; American Robin, 

 few; Bluebird, common, migrating. 



