1909 ] Blackwelder, Summer Birds of Iron County, Mich. 363 



The matter as presented in the foregoing sketch does not pretend 

 to list all of the species and varieties of North American land birds. 

 It is only a sketch or outline of a most attractive subject and was 

 written partly for the purpose of gathering together what knowledge 

 we have of the history and origin of our more familiar bird names. 



SUMMER BIRDS OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



BY ELIOT BLACKWELDER. 



The birds in the following list were seen in Iron County, Michi- 

 gan, and adjacent portions of Dickinson and Menominee Counties 

 during June, July and August, 1908. The writer was engaged in 

 geological surveying, in the course of which he spent nearly three 

 months in the woods and traversed the region somewhat thor- 

 oughly in different directions. The notes on birds were kept in 

 the form of a daily record, or a "roll-call," as we often referred to 

 it in the field. 



The region is one of low hills and plains of glacial drift, through 

 which small rocky knobs protrude here and there. The entire 

 district was once heavily forested, but the coniferous woods have 

 been largely cut off and the remaining "slash" has been repeatedly 

 burned. Where fires have not been excessively damaging, the 

 original forest is being replaced by thickets of birch and poplar 

 with dense undergrowth of blackberry bushes and other shrubs. 

 The clay ridges, such as the glacial moraines and drumlins, were 

 clad with dense forests of hard maple, birch and hemlock. Only 

 a small portion of this hardwood forest has been lumbered, al- 

 though the rate of cutting is constantly increasing. Where the 

 forests are untouched they are generally open below, — the large 

 trees, with their dense shade, preventing the growth of underbrush. 

 Where the timber has been removed, however, the second growth 

 is hazel and maple brush with dense berry bushes. The pine 

 forests were largely on the sand plains, and those localities have 



