It 
of our members are directly or indirectly connected with bird study 
in our public schools. It is a good work, carried on at a vital point, 
I know that this gets results from my experiences in the feeding cam- 
paign here in northwest Iowa last winter. Our public school, with 
a high school enrollment of less than 90, contributed $9 to the cause, 
while the local Boy Scout troop braved that winter weather, which 
we shall brag about for decades to come, in order to distribute the 
grain. You may be interested to know that they report having covered 
about 245 miles by car and, collectively, 117 miles on foot (much of 
the latter mileage on skis). It is particularly gratifying to us to know 
that such song birds as Horned Larks, Snow buntings and Tree Spar- 
rows, as well as many of the woodpeckers, were observed at these feed- 
ing stations. Such work as this, which makes the participants fake 
a personal interest in “our birds," has been stimulated by many mem- 
bers of our Union. They, in turn, owe their incentive to our annual 
meetings and especially to our official organ, ‘Iowa Bird Life/ I am 
sure we all feel that our organization has been very efficiently man- 
aged and that our magazine is one which we can proudly recommend 
to our friends. 
May you have many pleasant and fruitful bird hikes before we meet 
at Cedar Falls next May. 
Sincerely, 
MY RLE L. JONES 
GENERAL NOTES 
Canvas-backs in Buchanan County. 1 saw a flock of 5 and a flock 
of 12 Canvas-backs at the Independence mill-pond in open water. They 
were observed near a flock of 100 ducks of unknown identity early 
on the morning of April 1, 1930.— JOHN W. LYNCH, Independence, 
Iowa, 
The Food of a Phoebe, — On the 15th day of March, 193d, a Phoebe 
was found dead by W. M. Rosene and Robert Walker near the mouth 
of Bluff Creek, Boone County, Iowa, This specimen was examined 
by the writer and the following records were made: Weight, 12.75 
grams; wing, 8.(5 cm.; wing-spread, 28 cm.; length, 17.9 cm.; bill, 1.3 
cm.; tail, 5 cm.; weight of gizzard, 8.5 grams; contents of crop, 4 
Pentatomidae, 4 species of beetles (Carabidae), 1 scorpion or centi- 
pede (Arachnida), The identification of the insects in the crop was 
verified by Dr. H. H. Knight of the Zoology Department of Iowa State 
College. The exact cause of the bird’s death was undetermined. Both 
crop and gizzard were tilled with insects, although one would think 
that this early bird would have difficulty in finding them.— WALTER 
ROSENE, JR.. Ogden, Iowa. 
The Mockingbird at Atlantic.- — During the summer of 1935, mem- 
bers of the Atlantic Bird Club motored to the Dallinger farm six miles 
northeast of our city to see the Mockingbird. I had known the western 
bird very well at my old home in California and was very glad to find 
a representative of the family here. It was like meeting an old friend. 
The bird was not at all timid and sang beautifully. It came to the 
tree over our heads and gave imitations of songs of the Meadowlark, 
Dickcissel, Song Sparrow, B I u child, Cardinal, and even the wee chicken 
of the barn -yard. The pair of Mockingbirds nested on the Dallinger 
farm, and after their first nest was blown down, they went to work 
on the second nest, quite undaunted. Mrs. Dallinger told me that 
they succeeded in taking at least two of their family south with them. 
—MRS. ARTHUR LEE, Atlantic, Iowa. 
