1911 I Visher, Birds of Harding County, South Dakota. 



ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BIRDS OF HARDING 

 COUNTY, NORTHWESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. 1 



BY STEPHEN SARGENT VISHER. 



The following list is based upon three sources of information: 

 ( 1 ) Mr. G. B. Grinnell passed through the area from northeast to 

 southwest during July 9-10, 1874, and through the western part 

 August 17-20 with the Custer Expedition to the Black Hills. 

 His report as naturalist, published in Ludlow's 'Report of Recon- 

 naissance of the Black Hills,' contains some statements which 

 certainly apply to our district. (2) Mr. Sal Catron of Camp 

 (rook has lived there on the Little Missouri River since 1883. 

 Continual hunting has made him familiar with the larger birds. 

 (3) As naturalist to the South Dakota Geological and Natural 

 History Survey, it was my privilege to spend practically two 

 months (July 7-September 4) of the summer of 1910 in this area. 

 Of the seventy-odd townships of the county, all but a half dozen 

 of the least interesting were studied. Time did not suffice for 

 the making of a comprehensive collection of the birds, but those 

 of doubtful identity were, as far as practicable, as well as certain 

 others, collected and preserved for the State museum. 



Harding County is situated in the extreme northwestern corner 

 of South Dakota. Its north boundary is North Dakota, and its 

 western, Montana. It extends southward almost to the Montana- 

 Wyoming corner. East by west the length is fifty-four miles; 

 its width is fifty-one miles. The range in altitude is about seven 

 hundred feet, from about 3,000 feet to about 3,700 feet. Physio- 

 graphically the most of the area is a high divide between the 

 Little Missouri River drainage and that east by the Moreau and 

 Grand Rivers to the Missouri. This divide is studded with several 

 groups of flat-topped elevations called buttes or hills which rise 

 about 400 feet above their bases, often with sheer cliffs for most of 

 the height. The forested ones, and hence those of especial interest, 

 are: (1) North and South Cave Hills, which lie in the north central 



1 Published by the permission of the State Geologist. 



