* IOWA BIRD LIFE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION VOL. XI SEPTEMBER, 1941 NO. 3 OFFICERS OF THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION President—Dr. Warren N. Keck, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Vice-President — Mrs, Mary L. Bailey, Sioux City, Iowa Sec'y-Treas. — Walter M, Rosene, Ogden, Iowa Editor— Fred J. Pierce, Winthrop, Iowa Executive Council: Malcolm McDonald, Fairfield, Iowa Dr. Martin L. Grant, Cedar Falls, Iowa Bruce F, Stiles, Council Bluffs, Iowa The Iowa Ormthnlqg'sts* Union was organized at Ames, Iowa. February 28 1923. for the jjrassy hill' Tti fji- ilry, Uti Tht'sn hills t h«' birds it'iidi'd iu 'pri'sul out. Wi-rr iliiHriilr lit gnu it|». iitnl liushi'il in >iii it LI iir«u|)s of single"-., (mii>. ami rims." ( Knmi ;i ilr:iwin<; hy siilm^y H, Mum tur Iowa Slaty Coltegi? h BOB-WHITE IX SOUTHEAST IOWA 43 Til 111 VMO BOB-WHITE SEASON IN SOUTHEAST low A By ROBERT MOORMAN and GEORGE 0. HENDRICKSON i Thu open season on the Bob- white (Colin ns l\ rirr/ininnnn), November 15- December 15, 1940, was less satisfactory in general than the very successful season, 1939. As many hunters and bird students have asked for a report on the 1940 period, this article has been prepared to open with a discussion of the autumn weather based on data supplied by Reed {1940) who summarized November as cold and wet with more than the usual amount of snow, and December as relatively warm and wet. The mean temperature for November in the Bob- white region was about 2° F. below normal and the precipitation about .3 inch above normal, falling generally in the region on 11 days and at least in traces in scattered localities on 12 additional days. The lowest temperature of the month, —4 degrees F., was recorded November 15 at the close of a 4-day cold spell. The first 10 days of November and the last 16 were much milder. December opened with a 3-day zero period, the only cold spell of the month. November 11 brought a blizzard with a 30-mile northwest wind and 2 inches of snow, varying from a trace to 3.S inches in the 22 counties of the Bob-white region. Observations at the Decatur- Wayne County Experimental Bob- white Management Area show that the storm prompted considerable movement of the coveys of Bob-whites. Driven by the wind and snow the quail, in light protective cover and tilled hillsides, moved to denser herbaceous stands and larger wooded tracts chiefly of the lower land. On the first day of hunting, the majority of the birds were headquartering and holding fast in dense cover sheltered from the wind. They fed in nearby weed patches, and fields of corn and sorghum. Previous to the hunting season, on the basis of sample counts on -mailer tracts of the area, 1,549 Bob-whites were estimated on the area of 7,713 acres. In the summer and fall 41 different broods were accurately counted and shown to contain an approximate average oi 10 young. To a spring seedstock of 389 Bob-whites, of which 60 per- cent presumably reared an average of 10 young to a pair of adults, about 1,160 \oung were added during the summer. That represents an increase of 298 percent during the season, which is less than a 456 percent increase the year before (Sanders. 1940) when a fall popula- tion of 2,266 Bob-whites was attained. Older farmers who spoke of the 1939 number as the highest they had seen for many years, were of the general opinion that the 1940 population was less than that of 1939. Quail estimates by farmers in 1939 tended to be higher than those of the writers, while in 1940 the converse was true. Perhaps the heavy population of 1939 encouraged too optimistic reports from farmers, and the noticeably fewer birds depressed their reports the following year. During the 31 days of the 1940 season 20 hunting parties on the 7,713-acre Decatur-Wayne County area harvested 60 quail, slightly less than 4 percent of the fall numbers. Two quail were in the average bag of a hunter in 14 successful parties averaging 2.2 hunters a party. Six parties failed to get any quail. By the time the open quail season was half over some alarm had arisen about the condition of the quail population in southern Iowa. I Jinn riiil I'nijf-d No, -Ui4. TltU'il eoofnr ai i is ’ 4 , N Vi. of Th*- U, S r Iou. ;i (. Thi' Tmva AtrnruJMiHil Experiment Station, Amw, Iowa. iiud Wildlife Servif-e ( I Jojoirtm^iu of rhe Interior}' riiiswrviuinii Commission, :iml American Wildlife Institute 44 IOWA BIRD LIFE— XI, 1941 Many hunters reported difficulty in finding quail coveys, and coveys known to have been on farms previous to the legal hunting season could not be located after the opening date in mid-November. Quail hunters endeavored to explain their failure to find birds by placing the blame or loss on predation or disease. Such hunter discussion was undoubtedly a factor in reducing the number of hunters taking the field during the rest of the open season. As no dead quail was found by daily field checks on the Decatur- Wayne County area during the fall, when the senior writer resided there and was in the field daily, there was little probability of loss from any disease such as tularemia. No dead cottontail (Sijlviftifitt# ftonthiau.'i mrant.'ui) with tularemia was found on the area after the pre- vious May. Cottontails, although scarce on the area in autumn, were apparently in good health. Short-eared Owls (Axio f. flam men# ) were numerous in November and were suspected by some hunters, without direct evidence, to harm Bob- whites. An effort to answer the question of the missing coveys of quail was made on the Wayne-Decatur County area during mid-December. The hunters’ complaint of a covey scarcity rather than a scarcity of birds in the coveys suggested that the trouble involved a movement of birds rather than an actual decrease in numbers. As previously stated, a total of 41 different coveys of quail had been found during the summer and autumn. Because many of these coveys were flushed during the hunting season, such coveys were counted as present for that period. All coveys not observed during the hunting season were searched for after the quail season closed. The final tabulation revealed 37 coveys as present and 4 coveys missing. Since 90 per cent of the quail coveys on the closely observed portions of the area were thus known to have been present during the open season there could scarcely have been any startling pre-seasonal decrease in the number of coveys of quail. The first major cause of unexpectedly poor hunting success in the 1940 quail season on the area is believed to have been the result of '"he storm on November 11. The storm drove the quail into more sheltered quarters where the birds limited their activities to smaller areas and consequently were difficult to find early in the open season. Further, safe in the dense cover, the quail were not easily driven into the open to flush as entire coveys for good shooting. Rather, they held :ast, flushed around the hunters, got up as singles or a few at a time, and generally behaved in ways discouraging to the dogs and the hunters. Such hunting is time-consuming, but not productive of good bags. Later, as the weather warmed and rains came the Bob-whites moved to the grassy hills to be dry. On these hills the birds tended to spread out, were difficult to put up, and flushed in small groups of singles, pairs and trios. The dogs found the going hard, tired quick] y, and flushed but few birds as they ranged over large areas. Frequently one heard the small groups of Bob-whites calling to others across the fields, but they were found with difficulty and often not scented by good dogs! Such hunting, also time-consuming, netted few birds. Another factor which certainly influenced hunting success was that m 1940 the quail were only about 75 percent as numerous as in 1939, according to the population estimates for the two years on the Decatur- Wayne County area. Hunters naturally compared the 1940 crop of quail to the “bumper” crop of the previous season when the quail population was probably near the peak of recent years for southern Iowa. The experiences encountered on the Decatur- Wayne County area were typical of the hunting season in other parts of the Bob-white region. Occasional hunters reported a few days of excellent shooting, T’he junior writer on 5 days, usually with hunting parties, estimated the number of Bob-whites at one-half to three^fourths those of 1939 WINTER COVER AMI FOOD OX D EC AT V R ■ W A Y X E CQl'XTY EXPERIMENTAL ROB -WHITE MANAGEMENT AREA. l!Un A. iJ^nser woods i I R weeds near Steel (Tt-fk; B. -Sorghum fund [jiitrli and feme row rhit-kets with ailjikcvnl grassy ateus on high ground; C, Fe»"(! ruff thicket and unhu-ked corn. 40 IOWA BIRD LIFE— XI, 1941 on the same tracts in several southeast counties. Such numbers were sufficient to warrant an open season, although had the weather been more favorable the bags would not have been tilled as easily and quickly as in 1939. rmc the sport would have been very satisfactory, The winter of 194G-'41 was open and with little sleet, ice and snow in the quail region. Protective cover and food conditions were very good for the medium population, and farmers on the Decatur- Wayne County area reported no discernible winter loss of Bob-whites. The 1941 seedstock as reported by the farmers and checked by the writers on portions of the area numbered higher than in the spring, 1940. Observers in all parts of the quail region, who were much alarmed at not finding the birds readily in the hunting season in the spring, 1941, reported that the quail “had come back”. Those observers meant that they were seeing the Bob-whites in larger numbers, and that there was a good seedstock. Literature Cited Reed, C. D, 1940. Climatological data. U. S. Dept, of Commerce, Weather Bureau, Iowa Section. 51:87-100. Sanders. Earl 1940. History and Development of an Experimental Bob-white Management Area in Southern Iowa. Iowa State College Jour. Sci., 15:98-100. XOTKS OX WIXTK R-KILLIXG OF CENTRAL IOWA BOB-WHITES 1 By PAUL L. ERRINGTON- Despite all that has been written on the subject of winter-killing of Bob-whites fColinttx virf/iuin«Mxj in north-central United States, the literature gives few details as to just what happens when a covey meets with lethal crisis. Details in most cases are simply not to be had, so the history of mortality suffered in January, 1940, by three coveys northwest of Ames, Iowa, may perhaps be of unusual interest. All three coveys were made up of birds that fed regularly in corn- fields. Cornfields may furnish excellent winter feeding for central Iowa Bob-whites, but the harvest by man and livestock had been in many places very clean during the prolonged, dry “Indian summer'* of 1939. The ground was more or less covered with snow throughout the following January, often to the extent of making unavailable what little food remained in fields frequented by the birds. Then, on the night of January 17, the air temperature fell to 25 s below zero (F.). Field studies were conducted according to techniques evolved in the course of previous winters and described elsewhere (Errington, 1933: 6-11; Errington and Hamerstrom, 1936; 317-333). Working condi- tions were exceptionally favorable. By December 27, six of a former covey of 17 were living by them- selves near a farm yard and a field of soy beans, and the others were remaining in cornfield quarters that had been occupied earlier by the entire number, It could be perceived by January 15 that the cornfield birds were weakening, and. on the night of January 17, the covey of 11 went to roost in a roadside ditch, huddling in typical formation 1 Jo urinal Paper No. J-71>7 ihe Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station. Project No ■_ r [oufi State Pnllege in cnii|ier;itirm iciTh The I’. S. Tim'nsciiiil Survey, the Americnn Wildlife Institute ami the Iir.Vii State Conservntiun Commission. WINTER- KILLING OF BOB- WHITES 47 under a log. Crowded up into the angle formed by the log and the ditch bank, four birds succumbed. After daybreak, January 18, the living left the roost to travel along a brushy fencerow bordering the ditch. Four more died enroute in different places in this fencerow brush. One of two still alive in the fencerow by early afternoon was weak enough to be readily caught by hand for a specimen; the other, though weak, escaped capture by hiding in a brush-pile. Another feeble flyer arose from the side of a neighboring but well-fed and vigorous covey of 18 and was not again seen while alive. Counting the captured specimen, carcasses of nine of the 11 birds came to hand before scavengers had eaten of them. The hand-caught bird, a female, weighed Id 1 grams or about 80 percent "normal” weight; the dead (four males, four females) averaged 121.6 grams or between 60 percent and 65 percent of their probable full weights. 11 All had virtually empty alimentary tracts. Remains corresponding to the other two individuals of the covey were found too late to ascertain their state at time of death. The six birds that separated from the doomed covey of 11 lived safely by themselves until February 10, thereafter to lose their recog- nizable identity by merging with an adjoining population group. In another cornfield, there were 31 birds in coveys of 19 and 12 on December 31. Only the larger covey was in this field the night of January 17 and it had split in two for roosting. Five carcasses were found on the main roost under a canopy of snow and weeds, and four of these were together. Only one dead bird was on the second roost. After leaving their two roosts in the morning, the rest of the covey died scattered along the brushy fencerows bordering two sides of the field. Of 17 carcasses, five intact ones (all of males) averaged 117.6 grams. Shortly before the cold snap, a starving bird had been taken by a Great Horned Owl (Bubn virr/initiaus). — which essentially completes our record for the covey of 19, The covey of 12 ranged into the cornfield at irregular intervals but depended upon a distant patch of soy beans for food. Between January 20 and February 2, it (now down to 11 birds) did much moving both north and south of the cornfield and over an area of nearly 400 acres; from February 16 to 27, what was evidently this covey remained com- fortably in the vicinity of a farm yard approximately one and one-half miles from the soy bean patch; with the approach of the breeding sea- son, some of its members began to pair and to remain somewhat apart from the unpaired residum, which latter consisted of five birds on March 26. The two instances of drastic cold and hunger losses given so far differ from others recorded for this region in the suddenness and com- pleteness with which the actual mortality took place. The reader may see from published examples that mortalities of 60 to 80 percent fre- quently result when food supplies are cut off by snow, but the birds generally die over a period of a week or two (Errington, 1933: 18, 21, 27, 28; 1936b: 561). Death or helplessness occurs anywhere from the first week (Errington, 1939: 29; Trautman, Bills, and Wickliff, 1939: 100) to several weeks after the beginning of a food crisis, depending principally upon the weather and upon the degree of deprivation suf- fered. Except for birds dying in good flesh through exposure to bliz- zards (Errington, 1933: 14; Scott, 1937; Leopold, 1937: 410-412; Wade, 1938), a progressive increase in susceptibility to cold tends to accompany further loss of weight of individuals reduced to 75 or 80 percent of their full winter weights. The death, during the night of January 17 and the morning of January 18, 1940, of Iowa quail down to 60 to 65 percent of full weight is therefore to be expected (Erring- ■i Hnh-u'hili'S ■ j r Vmth ‘■rxt's die Eit ;ihimt the sntne weights ( Erriiigtrcn, ILCJGu). IOWA BIRD LIFE— XI, 11)41 48 ton, 1039: 25-27), although, had it not been for the immediate obstacle ,o survival imposed by a temperature of 25 J below zero, most would doubtless have lived some days longer. The value of the Bob-white’s compact, circular roosting huddle for the conservation of heat has been experimentally demonstrated by ^.^11 (1939), who found “That, at least within certain limits, the ability ot a covey of quail to withstand low temperatures is directly proportmnal to the size of that covey”. On the two covey roosts where the heaviest mortality occurred during the night of January 17, the huddles had been reformed to the exclusion of the dying members. In one of two instances in which four birds died together, the victims froze side by side as a part of the huddled covey; in the other, their bodies before freezing were jammed into a corner of the roost by the activities of the stronger ones. More typical of starving Bob-whites was the fate of the third un- fortunate covey. On January 1, 1940, 34 birds were massed at the edge ot a corn tie Id, Data for the next couple of weeks are too incom- plete to permit reconstruction of the whole story, but, on the afternoon of January 17, when the cold was intensifying, I observed a covey of nine uncomfortable-appearing birds. The evidence indicated that two already had died. Four carcasses were found of birds dying between the night of January 17 and the morning of January 20, of which that ot a male recovered from a roost weighed 137 grams. Two of the five birds alive on January 20 were obviously weak. On January 22 there were only four, including a weak one; three davs later, this weik one could not be induced to fly but dived instead into a hole in the ground, i wo recent carcasses and three live birds were found January 31; by February 10, the three live ones had joined a covey of II in a farm yard. Thu lesulting covey had lost one member from an undetermined cause by February 21; by February 24. 2 birds (a male and a female) were sitting apart from the other 11, perhaps as a mating pair; by March 10, only 10 were found. The covey of 11 apparently was one that had abandoned the original cornfield as the food situation grew worse, to spend most of January about a feeding station maintained by sportsmen, then later to move to the farm yard. An area of about one-half section of land was common wintering range of both starving an ^, bettei ‘ cove ys. but each habitually used a different side The total of 37 carcasses recovered from the three starving coveys lepresents 80 percent of 46 birds known to have died during the winter °? ?i^77o" aCie a J' ea unt *er observation and 81 percent of a net decline - 1J ^ 1:0 1.' December to late February). It is true that pait of the decline is attributable to birds moving from the area and that some influx likewise occurred; but, aside from these variables, it was to be seen that the January snow and cold made a fairly clean sweep of coveys unfavorably situated with respect to food. Acces- sibility of grain in farm yards and of soy beans persisting above the snow went far to offset the lack of food in cornfields. Deliberate and conscientious feeding by farmers and sportsmen also did much to mitigate the emergency. Literature Cited Errington, Paul L. 1933. The Wintering of the Wisconsin Bob-white Trans Wis Acad. Sei„ Arts and Letters, 2S: 1-35. lJ-j8a. Sex and Resistance of Bob-whites and Ring-necked Pheas- ants to Starvation. Auk. 53; 78-79, 1936b. The Winter of 1934-35 and Iowa Bob-whites. Amer Mid) ^at., 1 7: 554-568. 1939. The Comparative Ability of the Bob-white and the Ring- WINTER-KILLING OF BOB-WHITES 49 necked Pheasant to Withstand Cold and Hunger, Wilson Bull,, 51: 22-37, Errington, Paul L, and F. N, Hamerstrom, Jr. 1936. The Northern Bob- white’s Winter Territory. Iowa Agr. Expt. Station Research Bull. 201: 301-443. Gerstell, Richard 1939. Certain Mechanics of Winter Quail Losses Revealed by Laboratory Experimentation. Trans. North Amer. Wild- life Conf., 4: 462-467. Amer. Wildlife Institute. Leopold, Aldo 1937. The Effect of the Winter of 1935-36 on Wisconsin Quail. Amer. Midi, Nat,, 18: 408-416. Scott, Thomas G. 1937, Snow-killing of the Bob-white. Wilson Bull,, 49: 21-27 Trautman, Milton B., William E. Bills, and Edward L. Wickliff 1939. Winter Losses from Starvation and Exposure of Water- fowl and Upland Game Birds in Ohio and Other Northern States. Wilson Bull., 51: 86-104, Wade, Douglas E, 1938. Death is Upon Them: The Record of a Weather Killed Bob-white Covey. Bird-Lore, 40: 7-10. GENERAL NOTES Caspian Tern in Western Iowa. In Vol. X of 'Iowa Bird Life’ I reported having seen a Caspian Tern ( flyttroprof/nc caxp id tin p e rat it r ) at Lake Manawa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, on June 9, 1940. As I have always considered it to be of uncommon occurrence here in the past, the following new records may be of interest. On September 9. 1940, I saw three; on May 20, 1941, I saw seven; on July 1, 1941, I saw one; and on July 5. 1941, I saw five — all at Lake Manawa. DuMont (1933) lists the bird as uncommon, and unrecorded from the western part of the state. The 10 specimens in the Coe College Museum and the six in the University of Iowa collection were all taken in the fall. The birds seen here would be better classed as summer stragglers than fall migrants, as even my latest date of September 9 is more nearly a summer than a fall date.— BRUCE F. STILES, Council Bluffs, Iowa. A Summer Record of the American Merganser. On June 23 and July 5, 1941, I saw' a male American Merganser (Mcrtjitx mcrf/ansfir amcri- rmnixj on Lake Manawa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. The bird is common in migration and winters regularly, sometimes in flocks of seveial bundled; but T know of no other summer record for this region. Roberts, in his ‘Birds of Minnesota’, says: “ . , . . there is reason to believe that it once nested in limited numbers as far south as the Iowa line . Wells W, Cooke (1838) stated that it had been found breeding in northern Iowa, While I do not think my record was of a breeding bird, I do think that with the degree of protection now afforded, we need not expect our list of breeding ducks to remain static.— BRUCE F. STILES, Council Bluffs, Iowa. Correction.— Through inadvertency of authors and editor, the sci- entific name of the Baldpate in the last issue of ‘Iowa Bird Life’, p. 26, was given as nttmlrhismuM xtrrptnm (which is the name for the Gad- wall) instead of Marmi unn-ricana. Readers will please correct this transposition of scientific names. Noel J. Williams asks us to correct a line in his note on Swainson’s Hawks in the June Issue, p. 35 (fourth line from bottom of page) to read that migrant hawks in flock# are not common in his locality; migrant hawks are common there, but not in flocks. IOWA BIRD LIFE — XI, 11)41 :>n Turkey Vulture in Dickinson County. — -A Turkey Vulture (C*it hartrx tiimi nt jih ah ) was shot by J. M. Johnson seven miles southwest of Milford on July 1, 1941. The specimen was taken to the Iowa Lake- side Laboratory, where it was made into a skin, and added to the Lab- oratory collection. So far as known at present this is the first specimen for Dickinson County, although Dr. Mary Roberts says that the species has been seen here previously.— NOEL J. WILLIAMS, Milford, Iowa. Dog Encounters Pheasant. — One evening in August as I was going after the cows. Mitzie, my year-old cocker spaniel, went over into the cornfield. She started up two cock and two hen Ring-necked Pheasants. About a dozen small pheasants were with them. There was one old pheasant that stayed in the field, and it started after Mitzie. Mitzie stood her ground. The old bird pecked her on the nose, Mitzie howled, and then she really made the dust fly in retreat. Her nose bled for about an hour. Mitzie still has the scar on her nose- — as well as a lot mure respect for pheasants.— PAUL A. PIERCE, Winthrop, Iowa. Publications on Iowa Ornithology during 1940. Baker. Maurice F. Age Classes of Winter Cover Used by the Eastern Bub-white, Colinus V. Virginianus, in Southern Iowa; la. State Coll. Jour. Sci., Vol. 15. No. 1, 1940, pp. 3-11. 'Bird-Lore*. Christmas bird censuses from Iowa, Vol. 42, No. 1, 1940, supplement pp, 113-115. Ellington, Paul L., and Hamerstrom, Frances and F. N., Jr. The Great Horned Owl and Its Prey in North-Central United States; la. State Coll. Research Bull. 277, Sept., 1940, pp. 757-850. Green, Wyman R. Banding of Chimney Swifts (Chart nr/i prfnf/im) in the Region of Chattanooga. Tennessee; Bird-Banding, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1 940, pp. 37-57 (Iowa record on p. 45), Haecker, Frederick W. Missouri River Bird Notes for 1939; Nebr. Bird Review, Vol. S, No. 1, 1940, pp. 16-18. The 1940 Early Spring Migration Along the Missouri River, ihi/L. No. 2, pp. 83-84, Horsky, L. O. An Unusual Winter Concentration of Ducks Along the Missouri River; Nebr. Bird Review, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1940. pp. 9-10. ‘Iowa Bird Life'. 36 articles referring to Iowa birds in Voh 10. Leonard, Leora. Doubly Unusual; Nature Notes, Vol. 7 f No. 6, 1940, p. 162. Low, Jessop B. Production of the Redhead CY yrnca nmrrirtina) in Iowa; Wilson Bull., Vol. 52, No. 3, 1940, pp. 153-164. Mcllhenny, Edward A. An Early Experiment in the Homing Ability of Wildfowl; Bird-Banding, Vol. 11, No. 2 , 1940, pp. 58-60 (Iowa record on p. 59), Sanders, Earl. History and Development of an Experimental Bob- white Management Area in Southern Iovva; la. State Coll. Jour. Sci., Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 98-100. Scott, Thos. G. The Western Burrowing Owl in Clay County, Iowa, in 1938; Amer. Midi. Nat., Vol. 24, No. 3, 1940, pp. 585-593. Stephens, T. C. The 1938 Longspur Tragedy in Northwest Iowa; Proc. Ia. Acad. Sci., Vol. 46, 1939. pp. 383-395 (issued in 1940). Struthers, James A. and Dana. Duck Hawks of the Mississippi River Bluffs; The Flicker, Vol. 12, No, 3, 1940, pp, 32-33 (references to Lansing, Iowa, area). Swenk, Myron H, Distribution and Migration of the Chat in Nebraska and other Missouri Valley States; Nebr. Bird Review, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 33-44 (Iowa records on p. 38). (The above titles are taken from the Pierce bibliography. An effort is made to have the list as complete as possible, but some publications are not seen by the compiler. Bibliographical information in regard to Iowa^articles in obscure publications will be much appreciated, and will be used in future lists.) — F. J. P. RECENT BIRD BOOKS 51 RECENT BIRD BOOKS A BEHAVIOR STUDY OF THE COMMON TERN, by Ralph S. Palmer {Boston Society of Natural History, Boston, 1911; wrappers, pp. 1-119, with 14 plates of line drawings; price, $1), This monographic paper on the Common Tern is based on studies conducted at Sugarloaf Islands, off the coast of Maine. Completeness for the treatise is nest claimed, as it does not cover taxonomy, parasites or molts, and only briefly outlines migration and breeding ranges. The work has been undertaken from the angle of behavior, with observa- tions made during the summer months. The author first visited the islands in 19:15, when the tern population was nearing its maximum densit . In 1938 and 1939 it was estimated that the islands had 800 pairs of nesting terns, of which about 80 pairs were Roseate Terns and the remainder Common Terns. The Sugarloaf Islands are hardly worthy of the name of island as they are in reality fairly small rocks which rise out of the ocean. Access is rather difficult even in a calm sea, which probably explains the success of the tern colony. The book is divided into two parts; ‘Environment in the Breeding Season' and Behavior During the Breeding Cycle*. In the environ- mental studies the requirements for a tern colony are discussed, with the relation of locality, food, vegetation, weather, water, predators and other factors considered in turn. Because of various decimating in- fluences, the author figures that not over 35 percent of the young terns hatched survive until winter. Common Terns do not reach breeding age until they are three years old. Only 5 percent of the young reach maturity. The behavior studies during the breeding season are very complete and cover courtship, territorial rights, nests, eggs, incubation, young and their development, fishing, bathing and final departure from their summer home. Young terns fiy at an average age of 30 days. Terns leave the ternery in small flocks and pass the winter from tropical countries to as far south as the antarctic regions. The book is an ex- cellent study of a well-distributed species. There is a good bibliography and several charts. — F. J. P. ***** A FIELD GUIDE TO WESTERN BIRDS, by Roger Tory Peterson (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1941; cloth, l-xx-|- 1-240, with six colored and 40 halftone plates, 42 line drawings; price, 82.75), Our members who have taken western trips in the past and have been puzzled to know what bird book to take along for easy reference, will be glad to learn that a new guide to western birds by Mr, Peterson is available. In a few years his ‘Field Guide’ to eastern birds has be- come indispensable. He now does for western birds what he did for the eastern birds. The plan of the new book is essentially the same as that followed In the eastern guide. There are diagrammatic drawings which show the birds as they would appear in the field when seen at a distance, with various species in each family grouped for comparison, and with all distinctive field marks pointed out. Where color is the predominating feature the respective birds are depicted on colored plates; the others are in black and white. The eastern guide covered the birds of eastern United States to the western edge of the Great Plains, The new western guide covers the remaining United States, beginning where the other left off. It includes the Rocky Mountain States, the Pacific States, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. Some overlapping is inevitable, but the author has been very careful to give full coverage to all species occurring in both sections of the United States. Con- sidering the large number of species which had to be crowded into a nocket-size volume, the written text supplementing the plates is clear though concise and is all that anyone might ask for. The arrangement IOWA BIRD LIFE— XL 11)41 s similar to the eastern book, with notes on size, color, range, and seasonal plumages; certain characteristics of voice, behavior, Right and other details not transferable to plate illustration are also described. The typography is excellent, with sufficient use of bold- face type for species names and sub-heads to insure easy reference as the reader skims the pages. There is a list of books for reference and a full index. The problem of subspecies, particularly complex in the western states, is well handled by the author. Where the subspecies is identifiable in the field, it Is given full treatment in the body of the book. Where its validity as a subspecies rests on minute characters which can be noted only by a specimen in the hand of an expert, it is listed in a special section in the back of the book; in this section the various subspecific forms are listed under the species name with the geographical range given for each. To many of us in the non-professional class it seems that subspecies are often given undue prominence. Some bird journals name every bird with a trinomial whether that particular subspecies can be identified in the field or not. It is our editorial opinion that subspecies have but small place in field ornithology, because so few of them can be definitely identified in the field. It seems foolish to pre- sume that a bird is a certain subspecies merely because it is found within the geographical limits of the range of that subspecies. Mr. Peterson’s handling of this matter seems to us to be very sane and appropriate. — F. J. P, * * * • m TRAIL OF AX ARTIST-NATURALIST: The Autobiography of Ernest Thompson Seton (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York City, 1041; cloth, pp. i-xii + 1-412, with :jl halftone plates and numerous sketches; price, $3.75). For many years the reviewer has felt that he owes a debt of grati- tude to Ernest Thompson Seton. It was his book, ‘Two Little Savages’, that kindled my interest in birds and nature and furnished the original incentive for an avocation that has been followed a quarter-century nd has furnished me with countless hours of pleasure. Perhaps this interest would have been aroused in some other way; but the fact re- mains that 'Two Little Savages’ is one of the best books for boys ever written, and doubtless Mr. Seton deserves all the credit. A copy of ‘Two Little Savages’ received by me as a Christmas gift in 1915 was read with avidity, and soon a tribe of "Blazing Arrow Indians” was organized among the boys of the neighborhood, while a study of birds and many of the other activities of the boy characters in the book followed in due course. Dr. Roberts, former President of the Iowa Ornithologists' Union, also received his inspiration to study birds from reading ‘Two Little Savages' in boyhood. How many other boys have been thus influenced during the long career of this one book by Seton can only be conjectured, but the total is no doubt a large one. Mr. Seton is now 81 years old, and this autobiography rounds out a long series of nature books the first of which appeared in 1898. His ife span has been filled with experiences of great variety. He had '^ventures with wild creatures in many places in North America, and hese in a day when the country was an unsettled wilderness with wild life at the peak of its abundance. A master narrator and descriptive writer, Mr. Seton uses a deft hand and his story moves along swiftly without a dull page in the entire large book. He was born in England in 1860, the twelfth of a family of 14 children. In 1866 the family moved to Canada, settling on a farm in Ontario. After four years on a farm beside the big woods, they moved to Toronto where young Seton’s education in a rough city school became turbulent but interesting. His contact with nature at this neriod was gained with difficulty, but his urge to study wild life was so firmly fixed it could not be thwarted. Many of his early experiences are the same as those he gave to Y'an in ‘Two Little Savages’ — the daily passing of MEMBERSHIP NEWS the taxidermist’s shop, buying- the bird book, visits to a woodland re- treat where he built a hut which was later defiled by tramps. These and other incidents we now learn were autobiographical in the former story. A frail body and ill health handicapped him greatly in youth, and poverty was a further barrier in the path to success. However, young Seton was possessed of unusual talents and mental ability, which made his progress steady. At last he surmounted all obstacles and in maturity achieved the success and fame toward which he had set his course early in life. It is an inspiring story, Manitoba and the Canadian Northwest 60 years ago furnished a fruitful field for the author’s nature studies. He saw the region in its virgin opulence; later, with the passing decades he watched the wild life slowly disappear — due to settlement and the drying up of the country* Birds, a first love, were a major interest through life and are given a prominent place in the book. There are hunting anecdotes aplenty— moose hunts, wolf hunts, and encounters with Indians and frontier desperadoes. Even his several journeys to London and Paris to study art were not without exciting adventures. In later life he became a wealthy man with ample opportunity to do the things he wished. At this time he says, “For long my theory of life has been to take two trips into the wilderness each year and spend six months on each trip”. Mr. Seton was an exacting journalist all his life. He thus had at his elbow an abundant source of material to use in his writing. He de- scribes his record-books: u . . . . the Journal of my Travels and Doings is on my desk before me — fifty fat leather-clad volumes, most of them over-fat, and still increasing. Scribbled in pencil, ink, water color, anything; smirched with the blood of victims sacrificed on the altar of the knowledge-hunger ; burned with sparks of the camofire; greasy with handling by unwashed, hasty, eager hands; badly written; at times badly illustrated with hasty sketches — hasty but meaningful. A bookseller would not give a dime for the lot, and l would not part with them for a double million. They represent more than anything else those sixty years of my life and thought, my strivings and my joy.” — F. J. P. MEMBERSHIP NEWS Most of the June, 1941, issue of ‘Nature Notes’ (Peoria, Illinois) is occupied with an article on ‘Field Identification Iowa Mammals’, by Thomas G, Scott, one of our well known Iowa writers and naturalists. The article is full of information and is well illustrated. As usual at this season of the year, our information on the vacations of our members is very meager, and we can give only a partial renort. We report quite belatedly that Mrs. Janet DuMont spent the past winter at San Antonio, Texas, and returned to her home at Des Moines in late April. Mr. and Mrs. Ross J. Thornburg, of Des Moines, have left on a tour of the W r est and expect to be away a year or two. They are ardent bird students and will no doubt find many new and interesting birds in the western states. Mr. and Mrs. Win. Buzbv, of Boone, enjoyed a trip to California and the West during late June and July. Among Ames vacationists were Dr. and Mrs. Paul Errington, who spent the summer on a ranch in Montana, and Dr. and Mrs. George Hendrickson, who visited their daughter at Washington, D. C. Leaving Washington the Hendricksons visited Philadelphia, New York City, Albany, Niagara Falls, Cleveland and Chicago. Rev. M. C. Melcher and family, Central City, visited Columbus, Ohio, during August. Dr, and Mrs. T. C. Stephens spent a part of the summer at the Lakeside Laboratory, Mil- ford, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lambert, of Hampton, visited Salt Lake City and other points in the West during August. IOWA BIRD LIFE— XI P 19 41 54- Mr. and Mrs. Win, Youngworth, of Sioux City, drove to Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone National Parks in August, From Yellow- stone they went to Sun Valley, Idaho, and drove down the canyon of the Salmon River. They reported large numbers of Sage Hens on the roads of the West, but that mortality from autos was great. They slowed down and stopped many times to keep from killing live or six at a time, and said they saw almost as many dead as live ones on the highways. The Editor was somewhat disappointed in the make-up of this issue. He had hoped for more items for the General Notes section. A book review scheduled for the December issue is included in the present issue, and there are other shifts in order to fill out the space. Interest in summer bird life in Iowa seems to be at a rather low ebb, but it is perhaps due to the European war, National Defense, and other dis- tractions with which we must contend this year. Send us your summer observations for the General Notes section in the next issue. MEMBERSHIP ROLL OF THE [o\VA ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION" CHARTER MEMBERS (1923) Bailey. Mrs. Mary L., Sioux City Banning, R. H., Cresco Battell, Mrs. F. L., Ames Bennett, Walter W., Los Angeles, Calif, Hall, Fred H., Ottumwa Hoick, J. H., Spirit Lake Kin naird, Mrs. W. A., West Des Moines Mills, Wier R., Pierson Palas, Arthur J. t Fostville Pierce, Fred J., Winthrop Rosene, Walter M. T Ogden Sherman, Miss Althea R., National Stephens, Dr. T. C., Sioux City Trewin, Mrs. C. B., Dubuque Wendelburg, Mrs. Toni R., Des Moines Walden, B. 0., Estherville MEMBERS Adams, I. C-, Jr., Columbia, Mo., 1941 Alien, Oscar P. F McGregor, 1929 Austin, Dr. 0, L., Tuckahoe N. Y., 1931 Ayers, Charles C., Jr., Ottumwa, 1941 Baker. Walter, Ottumwa, 1939 Bartlett, W'eslev H., Primghar, '35 Becker, Miss Hilda, Davenport, ’26 Beckwith, Miss Alma, Atlantic, ’39 Bennett. Dr, Logan J., State Col- lege, Pa., 1934 Bent, Arthur C., Taunton, Mass., 1931 Bickel. Mrs. W. E., Vinton, 1940 Biel, Miss Stella, Vinton, 1938 Binsfeld, Mrs. A. J., Des Moines, 1939 Birkeland, Henrv, Roland, 1933 Bishop. Dr. Louis B., Pasadena, Calif., 1934 ' ( ttj August nii'fiilii-r. All (dries are I*h iilijin-. ialefL 10, 1041. \ ear of joining the Union follow* rhe mime of each within Iowa unle** otherwi noted. Correct! nit* in the list will Allantuk****. 2 K*-iuoii. 34 Blmk Hawk. 16 Boo n e. 3 BretiiMT. 2 Bueh.i nan. 2 Carroll. 1 Cass. 4 fVrro tiortlo. I riiir-kii-iiw. 1 ( ‘Itiyton. 3 Crawford. 1 DISTRIBUTION IX IOWA BY COUNTIES Jmlliis. 1 Howard. 1 T Javis. 1 Moines. 6 Hi (kin son. 3 Uiil>iii|iie. L4 Emrtwi, :i Krivi-ne, 1 Floyd, 1 Franklin. 1 Cnunly, 1 Hamilton. 1 Ha! din. 1 -Ta*|i**r. 1 -T-ift-rson. 2 ■Tolitixm. 1 Kt-oktik. 1 L-*. 1 Unit. 14 Lyon. 2 Modi'."! n, 1 Marshall, 2 Momma. 1 O'Brien, 2 Pa ire. I Polk. 1C Pottawattamie. 2 Poweshiek, I Scott. 3 •Sioux. 1 Siriry. .4 Tamil. 2 W.iprllo. 3 AV, Dubuque, 1939 Heuer, Ralph, Davenport, 1940 Heuser, E. P., Dubuque, 1940 Hicks, Dr. Lawrence E., Columbus, Ohio, 1938 Hilton, Clarence. Vinton. 1940 Hite. Charles, Vinton, 1938 Hoskinson, Mrs. Helen H., Clar- inda, 1940 Iowa State Traveling Library, Des Moines, 1940 Jetferies, James, Vinton, 1938 Jenson, Mrs. A. R., Clarks Grove, Minn., 1934 Johnson, Clifford 0., Dubuque, '41 Johnson, J. F., Vinton, 1940 Johnson, Mrs. Martin A., Union, ’41 Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. R. W ,, Du- buque, 1939 and 1927 Johnson, W. A., Grinnell, 1940 Jones, Miss Dorothy, Kansas City, Mo., 1934 Jones, Glenn, Atlantic, 1940 Jones, My tie L,, Toledo. 1931 Kaiser, Dale. Vinton, 1940 Keck, Dr. Warren N., Cedar Rapids, 1936 Kellogg, Mrs. Cora W,. Vinton. '38 Kendall Young Library, Webster City, 1931 Kent, Mrs. Win., Cedar Rapids, '32 King, Mrs. Helen G,, Grundy Center, 1933 Klinker, Mrs, P. J., Denison, 1937 Knapp, George R,, Vinton, 1940 Knoop, Miss Pearl, Marble Rock, 1937 Kohl man. Miss Margaret, Dubuque, 1937 IOWA BIRD LIFE— XI, 1041 ")() Kruse, M. P., Vinton, 1038 Kubichek, Wesley F., Arlington, Va., 1041 Laffoon, Jean, Sioux City, 1940 LaForce, Mrs, Edith F., Burling- ton, 1939 LaGrange, Bob, Vinton, 1938 Lambert. Mrs. Howard T., Hamp- ton, 1940 Library, Iowa State Teachers Col- lege, Cedar Falls, 1939 Library, U. S. Dept, of Agricul- ture, Washington, D. C., 1931 Lincoln High School, Vinton, 1938 Loban, Miss Myra E., Waterloo, '38 Laban. Miss R. Lucile, Waterloo, 1938 Ludeman, Mrs. Geo. R., Mason Citv, 1939 MacMartin, Mrs. W. G., Tama, '32 Maillie, Mrs. Alice E. T Oelwein, ’41 McCabe, Miss Olivia, Des Moines, 1932 McDonald, Malcolm, Fairfield, ’35 McDonald. Miss Mary H., Du- buque. 1937 McGill University Library, Mon- treal, Que 1} 1932 Melcher, Rev. M. C., Central City, 1939 Meltvedt, Burton W. f Paullina, ’31 Miller, Hilda E., Rock Valiev, '40 Moeran, E. H., Yonkers, N. Y., '40 Moorman, Robert, Ames, 1941 Morrissey, Thos. J., Davenport, *40 Moser, Dr. R. Allyn, Omaha, Nebr., 1941 Mote, Mr, and Mrs. G. A., Mar- shalltown, 1929 Murley, Miss Margaret, Sumner, 1937 Myers, Mrs. Len, Waterloo, 1939 Nichols, Charles, Vinton, 1940 Nichols, Harvey L., Waterloo, *29 Qberholser, Dr. H. C,, Washington, D. C., 1932 Orr, Ellison, Waukon, 1935 Osher, Mrs. J. B, p Estherville, ’39 Peasley, Mrs, H. R., Des Moines, 1934 Peel, Clarence 0., Davton, 1941 Fetranek, Mr. and Mrs. E, J., Cedar Rapids, 1931 Pettingill, Dr. O. S,, Xorthfield, Minn., 1937 Pierce, Robert A., Nashua, 1941 Pike, Mrs. Walter. Coggon. 1936 Pollock, George, Vinton. 1938 Port, Glenn A.. Vinton. 1938 Price. C. W., Spirit Lake, 1939 Public Library, Cedar Faoids, '31 Public Library, Council Bluffs, ‘31 Public Library, Des Moines, 1931 Public Library, Fort Dodge, 1936 Public Library, Onawa, 1931 Public Library, Sioux City, 1931 Public Library, Vinton. 1938 Rich, Dr. Guy C., Hollywood, Calif., 1931 Roberts, Dr. and Mrs. F. L. R., Spirit Lake, 1924 and 1926 Roberts, Dr. T. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 1931 Ross, Hollis T., Lewisburg, Pa., ’40 Ruhr, Eugene, Atlantic, 1941 Sanders, Earl, Yuma, Ariz,, 1940 Schramm, Frank H., Burlington, 1934 Schuster, Miss Ival M., Dubuque, 1941 Scott, John F., Vinton, 1940 Scott, Thomas G., Ames, 1937 Serbousek, Miss Lillian, Cedar Rapids, 1931 Sherwood, Jack W., Salinas, Calif., 1936 Smouse, C. D., Vinton, 1939 Spicher, Elmer, Vinton, 1938 Stiles, Bruce F., Council Bluffs, *37 Stoner, Dr, Dayton, Albany, N. Y., 1937 Struck, Dr. K. H., Davenport, ’29 Sutton, Dr. George M,, Ithaca, N. Y., 1941 Taylor, Mrs. H. J,, Berkeley, Calif., 1939 Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. O. S., Rock Rapids, 1929 Thornburg, Mrs. Ross J., Des Moines, 1937 Tobin, Hamilton, Vinton, 1940 Tobin, John, Vinton, 1938 Tobin, Louis P., Vinton, 1938 Tonkin, George, Boston, Mass., ’38 Vane, Dr. Robt. F., Cedar Rapids, 1940 Weber, Alois John, Keokuk, 1929 Wilharm. Wanda M. s Waterloo, '38 Wilier, Herb, Vinton, 1938 Willis, Miss Myra G., Cedar Rapids, ! 940 Winter, Miss Ella June, Carroll, '24 Wolden, Mrs. B. O., Estherville, '39 Woodhouse, R. F. p Cedar Rapids, 1938 Wyth, J. G-, Cedar Falls, 1932 Young, Miss Katharine, Waterloo, 1940 Young, Miss Mary H., Dubuque, 1940 Youngs, Miss Sarah, Meadville, Mo.. 1938 Youngworth, Wm, Sioux City, '26