IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
^05 
the time of its arrival early in March until it leaves in October, it proves it- 
self very valuable to the farmer by destroying insects and cutworms in great 
numbers. Its nest is usually built in the reeds or marsh grass in the edge of 
a swamp, though I have found them a few times in pine and evergreen trees 
some distance from any marsh. The nest is a bulky pocket of rush blades and 
grass, often easily seen but very hard to get to. The red-wing is probably the 
most common of our blackbirds in Polk county. 
Bronzed Orackle. The bronzed grackle is in habits so closely the same as 
the red-winged that no separate description is necessary. They are nearly as 
common in Polk county as the red-winged species. 
Rusty Blackhird. These rusty, black fellows are not found in such large 
numbers in Polk county as the other two kinds just described and yet in the 
more secluded swamps they are found very frequently. 
The rusty blackbirds do not migrate in flocks as do the red-wings, but in 
pairs. Except for that, the description for the red-wings fits this species too. 
Yellow-headed Blackhird. Some years not found in Polk county at all and 
other years seen in good sized colonies, the yellow-headed blackbird presents 
the most surprising sight of his tribe when seen. 
The yellow-headed blackbirds seem to be diminishing the past few years 
with the draining of our bigger swamps, and they are probably destined to 
become a thing of the past in Polk county, at least. 
When met with, their habits are not essentially different from those of the 
red-winged. 
Meadow' Lark. Not a lark at all, but a first cousin to the blackbirds and 
the bobolink. The meadow lark is common in nearly every meadow in Polk 
county, and within the past few years seems to be growing more plentiful 
rather than less so. The meadow larks arrive here about the middle of March 
and stay until about November 1st. Their nesting habits are almost identical 
with those of the bobolink except that the nest is more often protected by a 
tuft of grass acting as a covering. 
Orchard Oriole. Another relative of the blackbird, the orchard oriole is less 
common here than the Baltimore oriole. It is very largely a bird of the 
orchards, building its little cup-shaped nest of green or dried grasses nearly 
always in a fruit tree in some old orchard in a quiet, secluded place, for the 
orchard oriole is a very shy bird. 
Its season with us is from May first until September. The orchard oriole 
is becoming more rare in the near vicinity of Des Moines, though nearly all 
the older orchards a few miles away will have one or more pairs each summer. 
Baltimore Oriole. The Baltimore oriole arrives here from Mexico about the 
first of May and from then on until the last week of September may be found 
anywhere in the residence districts of our city and nearly everywhere in the 
woods where there are large, spreading trees. 
Their nests are beautiul, pensile pockets, smallest at the top, and suspended 
from the end of long, swaying branches, from fifteen to seventy feet from the 
ground. The nests found near the city are made of strings, milkweed, flax, 
bits of cloth, rope, etc., v/oven compactly together. I have one nest, however, 
which I found in the deeper woods northwest of Des Moines which contains 
almost nothing but plant fibers, grasses and strips of bark; a typical nest of 
the Baltimore oriole before settling up of our wooded district and the con- 
sequent abundance of more easily utilized material. 
