IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
209 
The flicker may be found anywhere throughout the residence districts of our 
city and everywhere in the country, feeding on the trunks of dead trees and 
decaying stumps, or on the ground like a pigeon. 
OBDER coccyges: CUCKOS, KIlsmFISHEES, ETC. 
Yellow-Mlled Cuckoo. We now come to another shy bird of the quiet wood- 
land. The yellow-billed cuckoo is a beautiful, soft colored bird of secretive 
habits, and for that reason, not often met with. 
Being very fond of the tent-worms and their moths, it is frequently to be 
found in orchards where these worms have gotten a start. 
Its nest is a flat platform of a few sticks loosely laid together, placed in a 
bush. 
This cuckoo’s stay in Polk county is from April until October, and its winter 
months are spent in the valley of the Amazon. 
Black-Mlled Cockoo: ^‘Rain Crow.'" Like the yellow-billed species in all its 
habits, this bird needs no further description. It is, however, more common 
in Polk county than the yellow-billed. 
Belted KingfisTier. A relative of the cuckoo, though almost its opposite in 
everything visible, this dashing, noisy, fearless chap is a common resident here 
from early March until late November, and can be found anywhere along our 
rivers and many of the smaller creeks. 
His home is in a hollow tree or in an earth-burrow from six to eight feet 
deep in some high embankment along a river or railroad cut. 
ORBEB, RAPTOEES: BIRDS OF PREY. 
American Barn Owl. Not a very common owl, and yet one that is frequently 
met Vv^ith in this part of the state is the American barn owl. 
It is a harmless bird, feeding on mice, moles, large beetles, etc., and building 
its nest in barns, belfries, towers, etc. In wuid regions it builds in hollow 
trees. 
The owls are all yearly residents here. 
Screech Owl. The most common of our Polk county owls is this little fel- 
low, v/hose weird cry is so startling and uncanny on a still night. 
Also a bird of prey, feeding on mice and moles to a large extent, this fellow 
is really a benefit to the farmer. 
Great Horned Owl: ''Hoot Oiol." This great, wild, weird fellow is the most 
destructive of our owls, and his raids upon the chicken or turkey roost are 
very disastrous. 
Now a comparatively rare bird in Polk county, he was once a very common 
resident, and made the nights hideous by his uncanny cries. 
The hoot owl will be found now only in the deep, quiet woods where the 
trees are large and the underbrush thick. Here he still builds his nest in a 
hollow tree and captures rabbits and raids surrounding poultry yards for his 
food. 
Marsh Hawk. This graceful “blue” hawk that is so often seen circling 
slowly over marshy lowlands is the most beneficial of its family, for it lives 
entirely on reptiles, locusts, grasshoppers, and small mammals, never touching 
poultry. It can see to hunt by night as well as by day, and is often hunting 
the most at that time. 
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