INTRODUCTION. 



The following list of birds contains those species which have 

 been noted in the vicinity of Kansas City, Missouri. Most of 

 the birds listed have been seen in Jackson County, Missouri, but 

 the ground covered by the list includes Clay and Platte Coun- 

 ties, Missouri, and Johnson County, Kansas. The extreme limits 

 of the region covered by the notes used in the preparation of the 

 list are Warrensburg, Missouri, Johnson County, forty-seven 

 miles (as the Crow flies) from Kansas City, Coming, Missouri, 

 Holt County, ninety-four miles from Kansas City, and Douglas 

 County, Kansas, twenty-eight miles from Kansas City. 



Kansas City itself is on the Missouri River, at its junction 

 with the Kansas, or Kaw River, in Lat. 39, Long. 94 30'. The 

 Missouri River makes a sharp turn to the east here. It is bor- 

 dered on the south by bluffs of loess and cliffs of limestone 

 which rise to a height of more than 250 feet above the river. 

 On the north, in Clay County, there is a broad flood plain, bor- 

 dered at some distance from the river by cliffs. These alterna- 

 tions of bluff, cliff, sand bar and flood plain are characteristic 

 of the Missouri River throughout its course in the region above 

 defined. Where small streams find their way to the river, a 

 "draw" winds for a short distance back of the bluffs. The 

 bluffs and the "draws" are richly clothed with pawpaw and 

 red bud, wild grape and black maple, the haunts of the Car- 

 dinal and the Carolina "Wren. 



Where small rivers, such as the Big and Little Blue, have 

 cut a valley to the Missouri from the higher prairies, they dupli- 

 cate in miniature the features characteristic of the great river; 

 narrow bottom lands fringe one side, and cliffs the other, al- 

 ternating as the streams wind. The rich soil along the rivers 

 is shaded by great elms, tall hackberries and "Cochi" beans 

 (Kentucky Coffee trees) ; the base of the cliffs are covered with 

 bladder-nut and cornel. Here the Kentucky Warbler, the Tufted 

 Tit and the Red-bellied Woodpecker are characteristic birds. 



Above the cliffs there are thin-soiled shelves of limestone, 



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