The Breeding Birds of Kansas Part 16

=Kentucky Warbler=: _Oporornis formosus_ (Wilson).--This is an uncommon summer resident in eastern Kansas, in deciduous forest and woodland. Specimens taken in the breeding season and actual records of nesting come from Riley, Doniphan, Douglas, Leavenworth, Linn, Montgomery, and Labette counties. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in May and June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 or 5 eggs.

Nests are placed near or on the ground, usually at the base of small shrubs or clumps of gra.s.s.

=Yellowthroat=: _Geothlypis trichas_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident in and near marshes is common in the east and is local and somewhat less common in the west. _G. t. brachydactylus_ (Swainson) breeds east of stations in Clay, Greenwood, and Montgomery counties, _G. t.

occidentalis_ Brewster breeds west of stations in Decatur, Stafford, and Pratt counties, and the intervening area is occupied by warblers of intermediate morphologic characters. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Nine records of breeding span the period May 11 to June 10; the modal date of egg-laying is June 1. The season is probably more extended in time than is indicated by the available records.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.8, 4-5; 6).

Nests are placed in cattails and sedges one to two and one-half feet high.

=Yellow-breasted Chat=: _Icteria virens_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident is common in willow thickets and rank second-growth. _I. v.

virens_ (Linnaeus) breeds in eastern Kansas, from Nemaha County south, _I. v. auricollis_ (Deppe) breeds in western Kansas, from Norton County south, and the intervening sector is occupied by chats of intermediate morphologic character. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-six records of breeding span the period May 11 to July 20 (Fig. 8); the modal date for completion of clutches is June 5. Forty-two per cent of all eggs are laid in the period June 1 to 10.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (3.9, 3-5; 21). Clutches in May are larger than those in June and July.

Nests are placed in forks and crotches about three feet high in dogwood, willow, rose, coralberry, cottonwood, and thistles.

=Hooded Warbler=: _Wilsonia citrina_ (Boddaert).--This warbler is a rare summer resident in eastern Kansas, in wet, open woodland.

Specimens (a total of four) taken in the breeding season are from Leavenworth and Shawnee counties, and the one nesting record is from Anderson County.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid at least in May.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are low (some as high as six feet) in woody vegetation.

=American Redstart=: _Setophaga ruticilla ruticilla_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident occurs locally in woodlands east from stations in Cloud and Sumner Counties. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 17.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in May and June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs (Davie, 1898), but there are two records of 5 in Kansas. Nests are placed six to 30 feet high, but usually about 12 feet, in forks or saddled on a branch, in deciduous trees.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.--Histograms representing breeding schedules of wood warblers, the House Sparrow, icterids, and cardinal grosbeaks in Kansas. See legend to Figure 1 for explanation of histograms.]

=House Sparrow=: _Pa.s.ser domesticus_ (Linnaeus).--This sparrow, introduced from stocks in Ohio and New York (originally from England and Germany), has been present since about 1876 in eastern Kansas; it is a common resident in towns and at farmsteads throughout the state.

Nomenclaturally, House Sparrows in North America consistently have been referred to the European ancestral stocks, _P. d. domesticus_, but none in North America today duplicates morphologically the European birds. This is evidence of meaningful adaptation of the North American populations to environments in which they now live, and continued use of _P. d. domesticus_ is misleading. Studies on local differentiation in North American House Sparrows are in progress, and when the biology of sparrows in the midwest is better understood, suitable nomenclatural proposals will be made.

_Breeding schedule._--Fifty-one records of breeding span the period March 20 to July 20 (Fig. 8); the modal date for laying of first clutches is April 5, and for second clutches May 5.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (3.9, 3-7; 13).

Nests are placed in niches of various sorts seven to 50 feet high in buildings, nestboxes, and trees, or freely situated in forks and crotches of large trees.

=Bobolink=: _Dolichonyx oryzivorus_ (Linnaeus).--This species is a rare and local summer resident, in and about gra.s.sy meadows. There are but two stations of breeding in Kansas: Jamestown State Lake, Cloud County, and Big Salt Marsh, Stafford County. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 18.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in June.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 5 eggs.

Nests are placed on the ground amidst gra.s.ses.

=Eastern Meadowlark=: _Sturnella magna_ (Linnaeus).--This summer resident and resident is common in eastern Kansas, in moist gra.s.sland.

_S. m. argutula_ Bangs occurs in Montgomery, Labette, and Cherokee counties and intergrades to the north and west with _S. m. magna_ (Linnaeus). Good numbers of birds are found east of the Flint Hills, but to the west the species is of restricted and local distribution.

Extreme outliers of the species are found no farther west than stations in Jewell, Stafford, and Barber counties.

_Breeding schedule._--Forty records of breeding span the period April 10 to July 20 (Fig. 8); the modal date for egg-laying is May 5.

Fifty-seven per cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 1 to 20.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (5.2, 4-7; 26). Prior to May 11, clutch-size is 5.3 eggs (13 records), and after that date it is 5.1 eggs (13 records).

Nests are placed on the ground, with cover of gra.s.ses or forbs.

=Western Meadowlark=: _Sturnella neglecta neglecta_ (Audubon).--This is a common resident and summer resident in western Kansas, and is restricted and local in the east; preferred habitat is in gra.s.sy uplands.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-three records of breeding span the period April 10 to July 30 (Fig. 8); the modal date for egg-laying is May 5 for first nests and June 5 for second nests.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.3, 3-6; 16).

Nests are placed on the ground with cover of gra.s.ses or forbs.

=Yellow-headed Blackbird=: _Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus_ (Bonaparte).--This uncommon and local summer resident occurs chiefly in the west, in marshes. Nesting records are from Wallace, Meade, Barton, Stafford, Doniphan, and Douglas counties. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 18.

_Breeding schedule._--Fifty-one records of breeding span the period May 20 to June 30; the modal date of egg-laying is June 5. The sample is probably not large enough to be wholly reliable.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 4 eggs.

Nests are placed within a few feet of water in cattail, rush, sedge, and willow.

=Red-winged Blackbird=: _Agelaius phoeniceus_ (Linnaeus).--This is a common summer resident in marshes, wet pasture, and scrubby parkland throughout the State. _A. p. phoeniceus_ (Linnaeus) occurs in most of Kansas and _A. p. fortis_ (Ridgway) occurs in the west, east to about Decatur County. A few birds can be found in eastern Kansas in winter; the full breeding population is present between April and October.