THE BIRDS OF WAUKESHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN 
By Alvin R. Cahn 
INTRODUCTION 
Since the publication of Kumlien and Hollister’s 11 Birds of 
Wisconsin/’ 1 there have been, as far as the writer is aware, no 
published lists of Wisconsin birds. This book, dealing with the 
entire state, brings the bird work up to 1903 so far as a general 
list is concerned, and includes 357 species. The following paper 
is based largely on the writer’s own work in Waukesha County 
begun in 1907, and is offered as a list of the birds known definitely 
to occur in that county, with brief notes as to occurrence, abun- 
dance, and like points of interest. The list contains 194 species 
known to the county, and a hypothetical list of eight species. 
Waukesha County is located in what may be termed the second 
tier of southern counties, and lies with its eastern border some 
twenty miles from Lake Michigan, Milwaukee County intervening. 
This places it within the area influenced by that lake, yet well 
beyond the range of many of the species of ducks, gulls and shore 
birds common to that region. Its avifauna is predominantly 
that of the Alleghanian faunal area of the Transition Zone. 2 
Owing to its diversity, the county offers a field of exceeding 
interest to the ornithologist. Large swampy areas, many small 
creeks, and several somewhat larger river systems afford excellent 
breeding ground for numerous species of marsh and swamp inhabit- 
ing birds, while more than fifty lakes of various sizes attract the 
mhny shore and water birds. The wood-lots are small and scat- 
tered, but there still remain some good, fairly thick woods where 
in one may find an occasional partridge. 
Topographically, the county may be divided into three parts. 
The entire eastern half comprises the area of gently rolling hills 
1 Bull. PTis. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 3, nos. 1, 2, 3, January-July 1903. 
2 C. Hart Merriam, “Life Zones and Crop Zones of the U. S.” Bull. 10, Biol. Survey, U. S. 
Dept Agr., 1898. 
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