158 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Voi.. XXVIII, 1921 
I was unable to discover anything out of the ordinary. Appar- 
ently, however, the adult birds were becoming more disturbed 
than ever and on attempting to investigate the situation more 
closely by sticking my head out -of the blind entrance I was met 
by a milk snake {Lampropeltis E triangulum) which was crawl- 
ing in to escape the angry pecking of the juncos. Immediately 
I disputed the occupancy of the blind with the snake to the des- 
truction of the latter. When its stomach was examined nO' 
recognizable remains of birds were found. I feel certain, how- 
ever, that if permitted to go its way unharmed it would have made 
away with at least some of the occupants of the nest. The snake 
measured 31j4 inches in length. 
Still another junco family of five was known to have lost two- 
fifths of its members before those remaining were large enough 
to leave the nest. 
On other occasions the eggs and young of the hermit thrush, 
American redstart and chipping sparrow were found to have been 
molested but the actual commitment of the deviltry was not ob- 
served. 
Although poisonous snakes do not abound in the region ''garter 
snakes” are plentiful enough and no doubt take their toll of lives 
from the ground-nesting species of birds in particular, 
One of the best ways of securing an estimate of the propor- 
tionate number of nesting birds in a locality such as the Douglas 
Lake region is by making a survey of the nesting pairs of birds 
therein. In seeking out nests containing young birds suitable for 
banding we were able to arrive at some fairly definite conclusions 
as to the most abundant species and those observations together 
with almost daily field work gave a checking up method that 
proved very satisfactory. This combination of records indicates 
relative abundance as follows: 
1. Bomhy cilia cedrorum 
2. Spizella p. passerina 
3. Junco h. hyemalis 
4. Pooecetes g. gramineus 
5. Melospiza m. melodia 
6. Hyiocichla guttata pallasi 
7. Vireosylva olivacea 
S. Planesticus m. migratorius 
In conclusion it may be said that interest and participation in 
bird banding is likely to lead to definite results not only in that 
work itself but in the accumulation of data which may be helpful 
in furthering our knowledge of birds and their habits. To date. 
