NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



499 



several species not rarely extended even 

 for miles across the sky, it is now so 

 unusual for the hunter to bag a goose 

 that the event is likely to be chronicled 

 in the local newspaper. Ducks, except 

 on preserves, form only a pitiful remnant 

 of the great flocks that were formerly 

 common, though where given absolute 

 protection, as in the Wichita Reserve, 

 become numerous, tame, and even breed. 

 The wild turkey is still fairly common 

 only in the Ouachitas and a few other 

 of the wilder sections of the state, 

 though in flocks greatly reduced in size. 

 The bob-white fluctuates from year to 

 year, but is certainly gradually growing 

 scarcer. The pileated woodpecker, the 

 most regal bird of its family, is approach- 

 ing extinction. The woodcock is a 

 sparse denizen of the eastern part of the 

 state, most of them occurring in the 

 Ouachitas. The golden plover still 

 passes through Oklahoma in its long 

 spring flight from Patagonia to the Arc- 

 tic, though it rarely tarries long enough 

 to be observed. The curlew, once very 

 common, is now rare, or in the case of 

 one species gone altogether. The coot 

 is very common, the loon and grebes 

 rare, while the herons and ibises are 

 only occasionally seen where formerly 

 they were abundant. The robin and 

 the dove are more numerous now than 

 they were fifteen years ago, and the 

 same is true of the brown thrasher, 

 Bewick's wren and the bluebird. The 

 Baltimore and orchard orioles are 

 probably increasing, and the dickcissel 

 vies with the lark sparrow for first place 

 in numbers among the native sparrows. 

 The western meadowlark and both the 

 yellow- and red-shafted flickers are 

 abundant, the latter two hybridizing 

 generally throughout the central part 

 of the state. Yellow-headed blackbirds 

 are common migrants occurring in flocks 

 often of a thousand or more individuals. 

 Red-wings are abundant in river valleys 

 and grackles and cowbirds are numerous 

 enough to be real nuisances in many 

 places. The cardinal and rose-breasted 

 grosbeaks are common winter residents; 

 the bobolink a rare migrant. The 



mockingbird and scissor-tailed fly- 

 catcher are conspicuous summer res- 

 idents. The road-runner, or ground 

 cuckoo, is a common resident in the 

 western and southern parts of the state 

 as far east as Cleveland County. White- 

 necked ravens are residents in the High 

 Plains Region, where in winter the 

 Pinyon jay also occurs. The birds of 

 prey are still to be found, though only a 

 few species, like the marsh hawk, the 

 sparrow hawk and the screech owl, can 

 be called really common. The logger- 

 head shrike finds a plentiful supply of 

 grasshoppers, sparrows and other smal j 

 birds, and small rodents to impale 

 upon the barbs of wire fences or the 

 thorns of the bodarke or locust, and so 

 is increasing. The vireos and warblers 

 are abundant during the spring migra- 

 tion wherever there is sufficient foliage 

 of trees to conceal them and to furnish 

 a supply of insect food. The whip- 

 poor-will gives its mournful cry very 

 commonly in the eastern timbered 

 section of the state, while the western 

 nighthawk, finding the roofs of city 

 buildings safe nesting places, is very 

 numerous on the plains. The chimney 

 swift is increasing as more chimneys 

 become available for nesting purposes, 

 and the ruby-throat hums merrily 

 about the great host of native and culti- 

 vated flowers. A bird that deserves 

 especial notice in the leart tern (Sterna 

 antillarum) that is now rarely found in- 

 land, being mostly confined to the coasts 

 of the south Atlantic and Gulf states 

 and southern California, yet which nests 

 in Oklahoma upon the Great Salt Plain 

 of Alfalfa County as well as on the Big 

 and Little Salt Plains of the Cimarron. 

 Reptilian life was never so abundant 

 as that of the mammals and birds, yet 

 proportionately it has suffered just as 

 great a diminution in many cases, except 

 in the wilder portions of the state. 

 Throughout the whole area under cul- 

 tivation the rattlesnake, once common, 

 has now become exceedingly rare. 

 Harmless species, like the hognosed 

 snake (Heterodon nasicus and H . contor- 

 trix), often inappropriately termed 



