31ie I Iowa f ©Fnitt^ologi^t 



Vol. 2. 



galem, [a.. April 1896. 



No-?. 



Notes on Traill's Flycatcher in 

 Pottawattamie Co. 



BY E. E. IRONS, COUNCIL BLUFFS. 



Vll/'HAT pleasanter sight can 

 there be to the student- 

 lover of Nature, than the alter- 

 nate patches of woodland and 

 meadow dotting the landscape, 

 enlivened by Nature's myriad 

 voices and made yet more joyous 

 by the sunshine of a day in early 

 June ? How happy the hours we 

 spend in contemplation of the 

 wonders of creation, as we wan- 

 der in the grassy fields or rest in 

 the shaded grave. 



Yet, while we fain would lin- 

 ger on and in this paradise, we 

 are brought to realize that all 

 spots are seemingly not as favor- 

 ed as this one which we recall. 

 If we would meet Nature in all 

 her garbs, we must not remain 

 in one locality but go where dif- 

 ferent conditions exist. With 

 this aim, let us leave rivers and 

 wooded valleys and travel out 

 some miles over the prairie. 



Picture in your mind, corn- 

 fields, dotted over with green 

 blades, with here and there a 

 stretch of pasture land. The sun 



beats down with steady heat, the 

 forerunner of August days to 

 come. We seek some spot where 

 we may escape the sun's rays. 

 Down a valley, or draw, we see 

 a clump of willows, their shad- 

 ows offering an inviting" refuge. 

 They follow the windings of a lit- 

 tle spring, which, owing to the 

 slight fall in elevation, has made 

 the ground quite spongy and 

 damp. The trees grow very 

 close together, in many places 

 being not more than three or 

 four feet apart, their tops form- 

 ing a perfect screen to the ground 

 beneath. Such the place and 

 circumstances in which I renew- 

 ed my acquaintance with that 

 interesting little bird, Traill's 

 Flycatcher. 



It is not my intention to leave, 

 with any reader of this article, 

 the impression that to meet this 

 little bird, one must make a pil- 

 grimage across the the prairies; on 

 the contrary, I was much sur- 

 prised to meet with it at all in 

 the locality. I had supposed 

 there to be very little of interest 

 to me in my study of thi.^. partic- 

 ular clump of willows, as I had 

 passed so many times without 



