TBe i Iowa i OrnitBofoGjisi 



Vol. III. OCTOBER, 1897. No. IIII. 



ONE SMALL PIECE OF GROUND. 



BY BURTIS H. WILSON. 



Paper read before the Third Congress of I. O. A. 



THE number of birds that may be found in a small area is legion — provided 

 the character of the ground is sufficiently varied. In the northern 

 portion of the city of Davenport, Iowa, just outside the thickly settled district, 

 is a piece of ground, about two acres in extent, belonging to a florist, who, 

 for several years, has not taken the care of his grounds that he did when he 

 was young and doing a flourishing business. The. grounds are divided nearly 

 in half by the greenhouses which extend from east to west. Let us look first 

 at the southern half. 



From the green houses the land slopes toward the south-east the extreme 

 corner being cut off by a little creek. This little corner is filled with a grove 

 of small maples. From the creek to the southwest corner, the fence is lined 

 with bushes and small trees, as is also the fence on the west side. North of 

 the greenhouses the land is different. The north end fence is overgrown with 

 woodbine and raspberry vines; next to it stands a "wind- brake" of several 

 rows of maples, very close together and very tall, running the whole width of 

 the grounds. Then at short intervals south of these trees are rows of small 

 trees of many varieties, overgrown with vines, blackberry bushes, rows of. 

 currant bushes and flowering shrubs. Only the extreme half of the northern 

 part of the ground is thus covered, the part next the greenhouse being devoted 

 to flowers. 



Taken as a whole these grounds are a paradise for birds, such as the 

 Thrushes, Jays, Warblers, Vireos, Flycatchers, and above all the Frin0illid<B . 

 In the migrating season, hosts of Sparrows of all kinds. White-throated, 

 White-crowned, Chipping, Field, Tree, Song, Swamp, Fox and the English 

 Sparrows, Chewinks, Goldfinches, Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, and many others 

 abound here. Among the rarer visitors during the migrations, I have noted 

 one Harris' and one Clay-colored, both being seen in the bushes at the north 

 end. The "windbrake" of maples is the home of niany Woodpeckers, especial- 

 ly the Yellow-bellied, during the migrations. At one end of the row stand two 

 or three evergreen trees with their bark pitted all over by these birds. Around 

 the evergreens is a mat of berry bushes which is always full of birds. Among 

 these maples, one spring, I flushed a Whip-poor-will several times and as this 

 bird is quite rare here, I considered it quite a find. Blackbirds and Orioles are 



