80 Sherman, Carolinian Avifauna in Northeastern Iowa. [jani 



November one Cardinal returned to his old winter quarters, and 

 before many weeks was joined by two females, the trio spending 

 the long eold winter there. Possibly the amount of cold these birds 

 survived was greater than that endured by Cardinals elsewhere. 

 They experienced on twenty-six mornings in the first six weeks of 

 1912 zero weather or much colder than that, the mercury falling 

 to 38 degrees below zero on two mornings, while 30, 24 and 25 de- 

 grees below were marks reached on other mornings, the averages 

 for the twenty-six mornings being 13 degrees below zero. The 

 summer of 1912 is the first summer in which a pair has been in 

 evidence. "We have net missed seeing them for more than two 

 weeks at a time": is the statement of Miss Eva R. Jordan. That 

 the Cardinal is increasing in numbers, and has become a permanent 

 resident seems to have been established beyond question. No 

 nests of the species have been identified. The finding of them. 

 probably, will be by accident, since hereabout the Mississippi is 

 crowded with many islands, offering ideal summer habitats for 

 these birds: places rarely visited by mankind in which search for a 

 nest would make that for the proverbial haystack needle too simple 

 a matter for comparison. 



In the wooded ravines in which occur the Red-bellied Wood- 

 peckers is to be found the Louisiana Water Thrush, Seiurus mota- 

 cilla. Wheresoever the swift waters of a brook wash for some dis- 

 tance the base of a well shaded bluff, there in masses of drift-wood 

 may be found nesting a pair or two of this species. Where the 

 forest has been cut away, and thickets of underbrush have sprung 

 up on several occasions I have thought I saw the Yellow-breasted 

 Chat, Tcteria virens wrens, yet always so far away that identifieation 

 was not positive. It remained for May 7 and 8, 1912. to become 

 red-letter days for the Chat. On those days one was seen in our 

 yard, was viewed through binoculars and without them as it ap- 

 peared at various times from twelve to twenty feet away. As a 

 species it must be counted quite rare. 



Perhaps the northern invasion of the Carolina Wren, Thri/othorus 

 ludovicianus liidoviciatnus, has been as great as that of the Cardinal, 

 if so it has not been noted. There is but one positive record for 

 this species. It was on December 2. 1911, in the same yard in 

 McGregor in which the Cardinal appeared, that the Carolina Wren 



