Trippe.] 230 [October 16, 
which he can arrive at correct results in this branch of natural his- 
tory. 
The following notes comprise the result of the author’s observation 
during a period of nearly two years in Southern Iowa. It is not pre- 
tended that the list is complete, but it is believed to show pretty 
fairly the main characteristics of the avi-fauna of that region, espe- 
cially as regards the land birds. As great care has been taken to 
state nothing as a fact which is not the result of the author’s personal 
observation ,—except in a few instances, all of which are specified,— 
it is hoped that the list will be proportionately valuable to the sys- 
tematic ornithologist. 
Some description of the localities in which the notes were taken is 
necessary to a correct understanding of the list.. One year was spent 
in the southwestern part of Mahaska County; the other in the north 
eastern part of Decatur County, the latter point being fifty or sixty 
miles southwest of the former. Mahaska County lies in the valley of 
the Des Moines River, the principal stream of the State, and is 
nearer the Mississippi than to the Missouri. Decatur County, on the 
other hand, is midway between the rivers, and lies just west of the 
dividing ridge. Both counties are well timbered, possessing a far 
larger proportion of woodland than most of the counties, even those 
contiguous. At the same time there are many wide, level and rolling 
prairies; thus affording favorable opportunities for the observation of 
both forest and prairie-loving species. ‘There are no lakes nor ponds 
in either, with the exception of a few scattered pools along the water- 
courses and on the prairies, and hence water-fowl, although found at 
times in considerable numbers about the Des Moines, are not abun- 
dant nor generally distributed. Hence the list is very incomplete in 
this respect, but with regard to the land birds it would be difficult to 
find more favorable stations for observation throughout the State. 
Although but a short distance apart, and possessing almost exactly 
similar physical characteristics, there are some differences between 
the two localities. These are, chiefly, the abundance of Warblers in 
Mahaska County, and their scarcity in Decatur; the presence in the 
latter of certain species not found in the former, Zonotrichia guerula, 
‘Spizella pallida, Vireo Belli, Salpinctes obsoletus, and one or two 
others; and the abundance in Decatur County, and scarcity in Ma- 
haska, of a number of birds whose range is mostly to the westward, 
over the plains, while there is a corresponding abundance in the lat- 
