°y,^ I JoNKS, Bird Miixratloii in foiva. T IQ 



vines are everywhere. Natural groves occur at intervals of four 

 or five miles in the country at large. 



This part of Iowa is in the rolling prairie region, the stream 

 beds lying about seventy-five feet below the hilltops. The gen- 

 eral direction of the principal streams is southward. Originally 

 small ponds were to be found in the bottomlands, and a few 

 on the upland divides; but these have disappeared in the vicinity 

 of Grinnell, leaving no natural bodies of water. Within the 

 limits of Grinnell there are three or four small ponds which are 

 visited by large numbers of water-fowl and shore-birds every 

 year. The Hooded streams in spring also attract many. 



Every farm has its orchards and shade trees, very few being 

 without either osage orange or willow hedges both as street 

 boundaries and inland field boundaries. Each has its pasture 

 lot, hay lot, and cultivated fields. A few small patches of 

 virgin soil still remain. 'Sloughs,' or bogs, are small and 

 thickly overgrown with sedges and rushes. The once numer- 

 ous and extensive 'cat-tail' bogs are nearly gone. 



The percentages of all sorts of surfaces are as follows : Under 

 actual cultivation, 35 percent; pasture land, 20 per cent; hay 

 land, 10 percent; timber, including orchards, hedges and shade 

 trees, 20 per cent; neglected fields, 5 per cent; bog land, 5 per 

 cent; virgin soil, 5 per cent. With the addition of a small lake 

 or large river with accompanying swamps, no better field could 

 be desired for a study of the inland birds. 



Grinnell lies upon a narrow water-shed in the central part 

 of the State, which is the highest surface on its parallel in 

 the State east of Des Moines. The direction of this water- 

 shed is nearly north and south. The only apparent effect of 

 such an elevated position is the somewhat later arrival of most 

 species than at stations less elevated on the same parallel. 

 It will be seen, however, that some species common in the less 

 elevated localities are not so at Grinnell, elevation being the 

 only physical feature not common to both. To the southward 

 there is nothing to interfere with the continuous Hight of the 

 migrating host of birds. 



It thus appears that the region is a very favorable one for 

 many groups of birds, but less so for others. The scarcity of 



