188 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 85 



scanning the stretches of new country which unfolded them- 

 selves as the train proceeded and straining our eyes, already 

 half blinded by the dazzling snow, to catch a glimpse of any 

 new bird that might be within range. Our interest was soon 

 rewarded by the sight of numerous birds that in this day 

 rarely breed in central Iowa, although rather common during 

 certain winters, namely, the Prairie Chicken (Tynipanuchus 

 americanus americanus) , most of which have probably gone 

 to help decrease ( ?) the cost of living. Our railroad followed 

 a creek and then a river, through a country composed of 

 woodland and cornfields, and at almost every siding corn was 

 being loaded into cars. Here there was much waste of corn 

 on the ground, and after the train and wagons had departed, 

 the " chickens " flew up to feast. One small tree in the edge 

 of a pasture and the ground underneath was black with the 

 birds, and from the great numbers seen we concluded that 

 they were present in the greatest numbers in recent years. ^ 



In the Centerville, Iowa, district, and from thence south- 

 west to Kansas City the Rock Island takes us through a coun- 

 try underlaid with coal and chopped by deep, wooded ra- 

 vines, an ideal country for hawks and owls. We wished 

 that we could tarry a while to hunt them up, but the train 

 rushed on as we dreamed of the rare finds we might have 

 made could we have stopped there. Early the next day we 

 w-ere at Hutchinson, Kansas, noted for its saltworks, as is 

 also Salina (hence the name). As we rushed onward we 

 dreamed again, this time of the ancient days in Kansas when 

 its billowy surface was the bed of an inland sea, where lived 

 Hesperornis and others of its kind, in a world of their own, 

 only recently (1873) made known to man. How we wished 

 that we could take a side trip to the University museum to 

 " view the remains " ! The rest of the day, as we traversed 

 the lonely plains of the Texas Panhandle, we were delighted 

 and saddened in turn as we attempted to identify the hun- 

 dreds of hawks circling about, low down, when disturbed 

 ^More fully discussed in Wilson Bulletin No. 78. 



