The Cardinal in Nortfi-Central Iowa 127 



On January 1(3, 1916, Mr. Russell wrote, " The bird 

 visitors at our ' Free Luuch Counter ' today included a 

 pair of hairy Avoodpeckers, a pair of downy woodpeckers, 

 a pair of white breasted nuthatches, a pair of jays, a dozen 

 juncoes, a dozen chickadees, the usual number of sparrows, 

 and a pair of cardinals." He continues, '' I was at New 

 Albin yesterday afternoon and a man told me that he had 

 recently seen a pair there." Harper's Ferr^^ is more than a 

 dozen miles north of McGregor, and New Albin is fully 

 twenty-five miles north of Harpers Ferry, by river route. 

 On March 5, 191G, Mr. Russell writes, " Our usual number 

 of boarders stay with us. Our cardinal is beginning to 

 sing now." 



In a letter of March 11, 1917, the same observer says, 

 ^' We have kept a luncli counter all winter and had a large 

 number of regular boarders." In listing the regulars for 

 that winter he includes one pair of cardinals. He con- 

 tinues, ''' The cardinals are pretty shy and keep at a safe 

 distance. I saw two pair of them at Waukon Junction 

 this winter. They have been reported from New Albion." 

 In the same report Mr. Russell tells of red winged black- 

 l)irds which he had seen that week and which he thought 

 had spent the winter on the islands of the Mississippi. 

 The river at that time was frozen. The red wings, I be- 

 lieve, were far north of their usual winter range if they had 

 actually spent tlie winter there. He also mentions the 

 red headed woodpecker as sometimes remaining with them. 

 The red head was not discovered as a winter resident in 

 our north-central region until the winter of 1917. But 

 since that year, we have had no record at all, during the 

 winter season. 



One would expect that the birds would follow the 

 river valleys, going much farther north for winter ranges 

 in the valleys than on tlie plains, for the valleys furnish 

 plenty of seed for the seed eaters, and considerable protec- 

 tion from drifts, from cold winds, and from freezing tem- 

 peratures. As the southern plants make their ways up the 



