10 THB ‘A;:U;D*U; BIO Ne B UO Laie 
rows sang, and sometimes a longspur. Harriers and short-eared owls hunted 
the abundant voles. And always there was the glorious singing of the 
western meadowlarks. 
On May 30 we drove west to Kenmare, where 
: hospitable Dr. and Mrs. Robert Gammell insisted 
on us spending the night, their other guests being 
the Dick Birds from Regina, Saskatchewan, intent 
a on photographing the courtship of the western 
3 ~~. ( grebe. Ann Gammell took us on a notable trip to 
(oe RES bs the Des Lacs and Lostwood Refuges, through great 
( rolling hills, by deep coulees and round kettle- 
~ ~~. holes. We saw our first magpie of the trip, and 
be Vy our first lark buntings. One male gave his flight 
mt. song. Two baby great horned owls looked down 
w~- ~— at us from their nest in an aspen grove. A long- 
eee? «4 Nee owl with a broken wing was found by the 
roadside; we brought it home and it thankfully 
took pieces of steak from Mrs. Gammell’s fingers. 
We saw all five grebes, horned and pied-billed on nests, westerns performing 
some of their amazing “walking.” We met no less than 33 hawks, evidently 
a migration. Although they were not shy, it was difficult to decide to which 
species some of the Buteos belonged. On a fine prairie pasture where silver- 
berry, Hleagnus argentea, was in fragrant bloom, as well as a pretty blue- 
bell, Mertensia lanceolata, we heard and saw a Baird’s sparrow. We 
watched a willet chasing a harrier; as we crossed the field we frightened 
the willet’s mate from its nest with four great eggs. Both willets flew about 
lamenting and a male redwing pursued one of them, even hitting it. 
As we drove back to Westhope the sky was a brilliant red. We stopped 
in the twilight by a pothole and listened. A night heron called, frogs sang, 
and a short-billed marsh wren made his earnest declamation. 
Our list for the 1800 mile trip through Illinois, Iowa and the Dakotas 
Silverberry 
was 141 species of birds. The water birds on the potholes /] 
and in the refuges were the greatest treat to us. There \ 
were 14 species of ducks, 19 of shore-birds. ‘We counted 
20 ring-necked pheasants in Iowa, 51 in South Dakota im 
and 6 in North Dakota. Chimney swifts were met in every 
town in Iowa, but none recorded in the Dakotas. The only W, 
red-headed woodpeckers noted were in Iowa, 5 individuals. 
Western kingbirds were found in the Dakotas, the least \ \y 
flycatcher only in North Dakota. Barn and bank swallows A 
and purple martins were seen in all four states. Only four , Wa 
eastern bluebirds were listed. No shrikes were met in \ ey g 
South Dakota, but 12 individuals in the other states. \\, {'/, 
Yellow warblers were abundant after we crossed the ie i 
Mississippi, while northern yellow-throats were common. \\ 
Redwings we believe to be the most abundant bird in North \ | 
America; besides inhabiting every slough, in some places | 
males guarded territories consisting of grass or alfalfa. Bluebell 
