BIRD RECORDS DURING THE PAST WINTER, 1916 - 1917, 
IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA. 
T. C. STEPHENS. 
The winter of 1916-1917 has shown a number of uncommon 
things concerning the avifauna of the region under considera- 
tion, of which Sioux City is the central station. The notes will 
be presented in the form of an annotated list of the birds found, 
but account will not be taken of a number of late migrating 
species which were seen within the limits of time hereinafter 
adopted, such, for example, as the Pipit, and others. Winter 
visitors and summer stragglers only will be listed. 
Some writers regard November, December, January and Feb- 
ruary as the winter months, and confine their winter records 
to such a period. However, there is very good ground for open- 
ing the books of the ornithological winter with the first arrival 
of. the winter visitors from the north, and continuing this sea- 
son until the same birds finally depart in the spring. Then our 
season will be based, not so much upon the calendar, as upon 
the actual movement of the birds whose habits we may wish to 
study. Upon such a basis our records may include October and 
March, and thus cover fully half of the year. The following 
account will cover this period. Little need be said about the 
topography of the region. The Missouri valley is an important 
highway of migration for the birds of passage. Whether it 
serves in such a way for the movement of our winter visitors, 
probably has not been determined. The Missouri valley is bor- 
dered on both sides by rather high “ bluffs,” which are cut at 
frequent intervals by ravines and gullies. These sheltered de- 
pressions are usually more or less wooded, and furnish cover 
and food for many of the winter birds. In some localities also 
on the river bottoms there are patches of rather heavy timber, 
which are identical with the ravine woodland insofar as they 
form a bird habitat. 
The open fields and prairies also form a habitat for certain 
winter species. There seems to be little difference in the distri- 
bution of the winter birds in the uplands and lowlands. 
