Annotated List of Sac County, Iowa 145 



shore birds, the more so since the neighboring Wall lake is 

 usuall}' ice bound for some time after the earliest migrants 

 arrive. 



The tales the early settlers tell of the abundance of water- 

 fowl and prairie upland game birds seem almost incredible 

 today. Mrs. E. B. Hayden said, " J have seen the entire 

 east end (about one square mile) of Wall lake so thickly 

 covered with ducks during the spring migration that the 

 water seemed black." Dr. Hayden said, " Every pond and 

 mud-hode was covered with broods of young ducks." 



According to Mr. Lee or Mr. Smith, swans, Canada geese, 

 sandhill cranes, prairie chickens, upland plover, and \ong- 

 billed curlew nested within the county, besides the following 

 ducks, ranked in the order of abundance as nesting species: 

 blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, mallard, spoon-bill, pin- 

 tail, wood duck, black head or scaup, and redhead. Mr. 

 Tiberghien also reported the whooping crane as nesting. 



Today, most of these do not nest in the county at all, only 

 prairie chickens, mallards, blue-winged teal rarely nesting. 

 Mr. Lee stated that ninety per cent of the ducks raised in 

 Iowa today are blue-winged teal. 



Mr. Smith ranked the clucks in order of abundance as mal- 

 lards, pintail, and teal as being common, then wood duck, 

 canvas-back, and hooded merganser next in order of abun- 

 dance, with the old-squaw as the rarest of all. The time of 

 which he spoke was from 1876 to about 1885. 



Species Listed. 



Eared Grebe (Colymbits nigricollis californicus). The only rec- 

 ord is a speciemn in the Smith collection. I have seen large grebes 

 on Wall lake, but could not certainly identify them at the time. 



Pied-billed Grebe (Podilym'bus podiceps). I have found this 

 grebe to be tolerably common on Wall lake and the " Goosepond " 

 during migration. My earliest migration date is April 11, 1915. 

 There are two specimens in the Smith collection. I am not aware 

 of its breeding. 



Loon (Gavia immer) . Mr. Lee reported that loons nested, their 

 young being seen, on Rush and Lard lakes north of Sac City, every 

 year until 1900. Loons were also reported by Mr. Tiberghien. 



