andi<:rson — TiiR BIRDS oi' ihwA. 131 



The founding of the Iowa Ornithologists' Association in 1894 

 revived interest among the bird students of the state. About fifty 

 members were enrolled, and a quarterly journal, called The loica 

 Oyuiihologist, was published for some four years. Several fami- 

 lies of birds were studied in detail, and the aggregated notes were 

 published in the official organ. A connnittee was appointed to 

 collect material for a book on the birds of Iowa, but with the 

 demise of the association, in 1899, the work was allowed to drop. 



A list of the more important publications which contain refer- 

 ences to Iowa birds will be found in the bibliographical appendix. 



K KLATI VE A BUNDANC F: . 



The relative abundance of the different species has been gener- 

 ally arrived at from the statements of published authorities and 

 from about thirty local and county lists which have been furnished 

 by bird students scattered over the greater portion of the state. 

 In work of this kind the compiler finds his greatest difficulties 

 arising from the lack of a definite system for recording the rela- 

 tive abundance or scarcity of species in a given locality. The 

 amount of time spent in the field, the topography of the region 

 covered, the season of observation, and the personal equation of 

 the observer, have a great effect upon the records made. It is 

 evident that if most of the time be spent in woodlands, the swamp- 

 and prairie-loving species will be seldom seen, and if field excur- 

 sions are made only at irregular and infrequent intervals, some of 

 the migrant species which spend only a few days with us may be 

 entirely overlooked. Unfamiliarity with songs and notes may 

 cause the omission of certain secretive species. The classification 

 of a species as "rare" by a trained and indefatigable observer 

 would be much more conclusive than such a characterization by a 

 student who spent but little time in the field. For these reasons 

 more or less discrepancy is frequently found in the reports of accu- 

 rate and conscientious observers working in very similar localities. 

 Thus it is only when the reports of all observers substantially 

 agree, that the records may be considered as more than approxi- 

 mately accurate. 



The definition of terms used to indicate relative abundance by 



