74 



THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



Grackle nesting- in a hollow stump 

 or tree. What has been your 

 experience? — Carl Fritz Henning-. 



BiKDS In Winter. 

 The latter part of January and the 

 early part of February was yery 

 cold with drifting- snows, and the 

 crumbs that were swept out of the 

 kitchen were a great treat to the 

 birds. Scores of Juncos came, and 

 a g-reat many Chick-a-dees, three 

 Red-headed Woodpeckers, two 

 Down}' Woodpeckers, one Great 

 Northern Shrike can,e and sat in 

 a tree in the yard, ( but I did not 

 see it alight on the ground), one 

 Flicker, several hundred Tree 

 Sparrows came into the yard many 

 times; several flocks of Cedar- 

 birds, two Turtle Doves (Feb. 11, 

 and 12). one Robin Jan. 3rd., and 

 two on Jan. 6th., two or three 

 Nuthatches, more than a dozen 

 Blue Jays; all of them eager to 

 to g-et their share of the dainties. 

 Thirteen Prairie-horned Larks, 

 and a large number of Crows 

 were constant!}' about the feed 

 lot. Strang-e to say, the Eng-lish 

 Sparrows seemed to leave during- 

 the very cold weather, but return- 

 ed the first mild day. This was 

 the scene about my home during 

 that severe weather. — H. Heaton, 

 Glendale, Iowa. 



"From the Dead the Living 

 Came."— On June 18, 1894, while 

 out collecting- along- the Iowa 

 River, I noticed a House Wren fly 

 from the remains of a Turtle, 

 which was fastened by the tail to 



a fence post. On examining-, I 

 found the shell to contain a 

 Wren's nest holding- seven young-. 



The flesh had decayed away, 

 leaving- the cavity for the nest. 



This is the first instance of 

 such a nesting site I have ob- 

 served. — A. P. Godley, LeGrand, 

 Iowa. 



Red-shafted Flicker. 



The following is a letter receiv- 

 ed from D. H. Talbot, Sioux. 

 City. Iowa. Dated Feb. 7th. 1895. 



Dear Sir:- 



I am in receipt of a copy of the 

 Iowa Ornithologist, for which 

 please accept thanks. In looking- 

 over the notes therein, I observe 

 that you refer to the notes g-iven 

 you by Guy C. Rich, of Sioux 

 City, Iowa in which he refers to 

 the Red-shafted Flicker, as hav- 

 ing been observed by him in that 

 locality, and you in commenting 

 on the same, state that you think 

 it is the first record of this bird 

 being found in Iowa. Briefly, I 

 must say, that while the bird is 

 not common in this part of the 

 state, yet it is very frequently 

 found. I have obserA'ed it here 

 nearly every season for 20 odd 

 years and have secured quite a 

 number of specimens, including- 

 several hybrids, as I suppose them 

 to be the oflVfring- representing 

 the crosses between the Red-shaft 

 ed and Yellcw-e halted Flicker. 



Very truly. 



D. H.Talbot. 



