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IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Voi.. XXVII, 1920 
During the spring of 1919 this species was more than usually 
abundant in the vicinity of Iowa City and one of the places most 
frequented was a mud flat about 100 yards long by 20 yards 
wide on the west bank of the Iowa river just west of the Uni- 
versity campus. This flat is thickly grown up with small willows 
and long, heavy water-grass and rushes grow in a tangled mass 
around them. Here, morning after morning, in late March and 
early April the noise made by the thousands of red-wings seemed 
almost deafening as one stood among the trees. And in the 
early morning before the birds began flying away to feed, the 
trees, grass and reeds seemed literally black with them. The 
sudden and uniform cessation of singing at irregular intervals 
when groups of twenty-five to one hundred birds rose in the air 
and flew slowly away was particularly noticeable. It was esti- 
mated that over 5,000 birds roosted in this small area when the 
number was at its maximum. Usually by 7 :30 A.M. comparative- 
ly few of the birds remained and after April 3 fewer and fewer 
of the birds returned each succeeding evening. 
It seems likely that the abundance of this as well as many 
other species of our common birds may be attributed, at least in 
some measure, to the dissemination and influence of knowledge 
relative to the value of our birds and a consideration of the laws 
that have been enacted to protect them. 
14. Baltimore Oriole. Icterus galbula (Linn.). Ordinarily 
this bird arrives at Iowa City about May 6 to 8 but in 1919 
several specimens were observed on May 2. This is the writer’s 
earliest spring record for observations lasting over a period of 
seven years. 
15. Bronzed Crackle. Quiscalus quiscala aeneus Ridgway. 
In the early autumn of 1919 this species appeared in unusual 
numbers about Iowa City and a great flock roosted each evening 
in the willow trees above described where the red-wings held 
forth in the spring. In late afternoons and early evenings groups 
of from a dozen to as many as 300 could be seen making their 
way to this roosting place. In the morning they were off again 
dispersing in all directions. 
Groups of a hundred or more often visited the lawns in town. 
Flying down en masse from the tree tops they would begin at 
one end of a lawn and work across it rapidly, searching under the 
leaves and grass and no doubt in this way destroying thousands 
of insects and their larvae. Never before had the writer observed 
