IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
The American goldfinch arrives here late in April, but he stays until late in 
December before leaving again. 
Their nests are of the softest possible material, often composed entirely of 
plant and thistle down. The nest is round and very neat and compact, placed 
in a bush or a tree where it is well protected by surrounding branches or 
thorns, and where it is pretty well hidden. 
Cardinal. The American red bird or cardinal is entered in this treatise of 
Polk county birds, not because it is a common resident here, but because in 
the past few years it has become quite a common bird in the southeastern part 
of Iowa, and I have the boldness to prophesy that in the next ten years it will 
be frequently found nesting in Polk county. Already I have twice seen the 
cardinal in our county as a wild bird, and with continued protection I look 
for it to become one of our much loved Iowa birds. 
Towhee, ChewinJc or Ground RoHn. The towhee, one of the common sum- 
mer residents of Polk county, usually arrives about the middle of April. It is 
one of our shy birds, to be found in the quiet wooded strips along the smaller 
creeks or near brush thickets, nesting on the ground in a clump of underbrush 
where the nest is well concealed. The towhee is a very restless bird and is to be 
frequently found upon the ground scratching among the dead leaves for in- 
^sects and seeds which it ea^s with equal relish. The male’s song is typical of 
the bird, — a wild, defiant, startling series of notes heard only, during the 
nesting season. He leaves for the south again about the middle of October. 
Rose-Breasted Groslteak. Naturally a bird of the open woodland, the rose- 
breasted grosbeak has easily adapted itself to life in the residence district of 
our city where the trees are of sufficient size. 
Its season wnth us is from about the first of May to the middle of Septem- 
ber. It builds a neat, circular nest of fibers and grass, lined with finer grass 
and placed in a low tree or in a large thornbrush. Its food consists of beetles, 
flies, larvae, seeds and the buds of various trees. 
Indigo Bunting. This shy little friend of brilliant hue is fast becoming 
one of our rare birds in Polk county. Naturally a bird of the quiet, secluded 
woodland districts, the rapid destruction of our woods and the building of 
houses in those that are left, have driven this timid little fellow to other 
haunts. However, in the timber uplands along Beaver creek and Four Mile 
creek, they are still to be found in some abundance, while in many other 
smaller wooded tracts they are to be met v/ith occasionally. The indigo bunt- 
ing is here from the middle of May to the middle of September. Its nest is a 
rude, bulky structure of sticks and leaves, built in a low bush near the ecge 
of a thicket or occasionally in a small, bushy tree. 
Bobolink. I include the bobolink in this work on Polk county birds for a 
variety of reasons. First, because I have found the bobolink nesting in Polk 
county a few times. Secondly, because of all birds famed for its song in our 
middle and northern states, none is more widely known or loudly praised than 
the bobolink. Thirdly, because several times in the last five years our Des 
Moines papers have contained articles on the birds found in the vicinity of 
Des Moines, in which the bobolink was given a foremost place and reported 
to be a common bird in this locality. Almost the reverse is true. The bobo- 
link is in reality one of the rare birds in Polk county and will be seldom met 
with here, though in some parts of Iowa they are found in large numbers. 
Red-winged Blackbird. One of the very familiar birds of our lowland 
meadows and marshes and along roadsides is the red-winged blackbird. From 
