cropped prairie grassland or cultivated fields (notably soybeans and
wheat), and occasionally on bare ground.
TABLE 14.--OCCURRENCE IN TIME OF SUMMER RESIDENT SWALLOWS IN
KANSAS
===============+===========================+=============================
| Arrival | Departure
SPECIES +-----------------+---------+------------------+----------
| Range | Median | Range | Median
---------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+----------
Tree Swallow | Apr. 5-Apr. 30 | Apr. 24 | Sept. 30-Oct. 21 | Oct. 8
Bank Swallow | Apr. 9-May 19 | May 7 | Sept. 3-Sept. 20 | Sept. 10
Rough-winged | | | |
Swallow | Mar. 29-May 30 | Apr. 22 | Sept. 23-Oct. 21 | Oct. 10
Cliff Swallow | Apr. 14-May 27 | May 11 | Sept. 3-Oct. 25 | Sept. 11
Barn Swallow | Mar. 31-Apr. 29 | Apr. 21 | Sept. 22-Oct. 25 | Oct. 7
Purple Martin | Mar. 5-Apr. 9 | Mar. 26 | Aug. 28-Sept. 23 | Sept. 3
---------------+-----------------+---------+------------------+----------
=Tree Swallow=: _Iridoprocne bicolor_ (Vieillot).--This is a summer
resident in extreme northeastern Kansas; nesting birds have been found
only along the Missouri River in Doniphan County. Habitat is in open
woodland, and in Kansas is always associated with water. Temporal
occurrence in the State is indicated in Table 14.
_Breeding schedule._--Eight records of breeding span the period May 21
to June 20; the modal date for egg-laying is May 25. The small sample
may not accurately reflect the peak of nesting activity.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 or 6 eggs (5.5, 5-6; 4).
Nests are placed chiefly in abandoned woodpecker diggings in willows,
four to ten feet high, over water.
=Bank Swallow=: _Riparia riparia riparia_ (Linnaeus).--This summer
resident is common wherever cut-banks suitable for nesting activities
allow relatively undisturbed behavior. The species is almost always
found near water. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table 14.
_Breeding schedule._--Sixty records of breeding span the period May 11
to June 20 (Fig. 6); the modal date for completion of clutches is June
5.
Nearly 75 per cent of all clutches are laid in the period May 21 to
June 10. Under unusual circumstances time of breeding can be greatly
delayed; such circumstances occurred in 1961 in many places along the
Kansas River in eastern Kansas, where the soft, sandy-clay banks were
repeatedly washed away in May and June by high water undercutting the
cliffs. Bank Swallows attempted to work on burrows in late May, but
stabilization of the banks occurred only by late June, and the peak of
egg-laying for many colonies was around July 12. Records for 1961 are
omitted from the sample used here (Fig. 6).
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.8, 3-7; 60). Yearly
clutch-size at one colony 3 miles east of Lawrence, Douglas County, is
as follows:
1959: 5.2, 19 records
1960: 5.0, 12 records
1961: 3.7, 11 records
1962: 4.8, 18 records
The sample for 1961 is that taken in early July when breeding occurred
after a delay of more than a month, as described above.
Nesting chambers are excavated in sandy-clay banks, piles of sand,
piles of sawdust, or similar sites, at ends of tunnels one to more
than three feet in depth from the vertical face of the substrate.
=Rough-winged Swallow=: _Stelgidopteryx ruficollis serripennis_
(Audubon).--This summer resident is common in most places; it is not
restricted to a single habitat, but needs some sort of earthen or
other substrate with ready-made burrows for nesting. Temporal
occurrence is indicated in Table 14.
_Breeding schedule._--The 14 records of breeding are in the period May
11 to June 30; the modal date of egg-laying is June 5. Seventy per
cent of all eggs are laid in the period May 21 to June 10.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (5.0, 4-6; 4).
Nesting chambers are in old burrows of Bank Swallows, Kingfishers,
rodents, or in crevices remaining subsequent to decomposition of roots
of plants; frequently this swallow uses a side chamber off the main
tunnel, near the mouth, of a burrow abandoned or still in use by the
other species mentioned above.
=Cliff Swallow=: _Petrochelidon pyrrhonota pyrrhonota_
(Vieillot).--This common summer resident occurs wherever suitable
sites for nests are found. Temporal occurrence is indicated in Table
14.
_Breeding schedule._--The 610 records of breeding span the period May
21 to June 30 (Fig. 6); the modal date for egg-laying is June 5, and
85 per cent of all clutches are laid from May 21 to June 10. Such
synchronous breeding activity is probably a function of strong
coloniality with attendant "social facilitation" of breeding behavior.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.9, 3-7; 7).
Nests are built in mud jugs plastered to vertical rock faces, bridges,
culverts, and buildings from a few feet to more than 100 feet above
the ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Histograms representing breeding
schedules of the Horned Lark and swallows in Kansas. See legend
to Figure 1 for explanation of histograms.]
=Barn Swallow=: _Hirundo rustica erythrogaster_ Boddaert.--This summer
resident is common in most habitats, occurring chiefly about
cultivated fields and pastures. Temporal occurrence is indicated in
Table 14.
_Breeding schedule._--Sixty-three records of breeding in northern
Kansas span the period May 1 to July 31 (Fig. 6); the modal date for
completion of first clutches is May 25, and that for the second is
July 5. The schedule of breeding in southern Kansas (chiefly Cowley
County), to judge by 41 records, conforms to the one for northern
Kansas: the season spans the period May 1 to August 10, and the modal
date for first clutches is May 15. The ten-day lag in peak of first
clutches of the northern over the southern sample is about what would
be expected on the basis of differential inception of the biological
growing season from south to north each spring.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size does not vary geographically, to judge
only from the present samples, and all are included in the listing to
follow. The modal size of clutches is 5 eggs (4.7, 3-7; 43); clutches
from the period May 1 to 30 show an average of 5.0 eggs, from June 1
to 20 an average of 4.9 eggs, and from June 21 to August 10, 4.4 eggs.
Nests are usually placed on horizontal surfaces in barns, sheds, or
other such structures; more rarely they are put on bridges, and less
frequently yet on vertical walls of culverts or sheds.
=Purple Martin=: _Progne subis subis_ (Linnaeus).--This summer
resident is common in the east but rare in the west. The only
documented colony west of the 99th meridian was in Oberlin, Decatur
County (Wolfe, 1961), occupied some 50 years ago. Temporal occurrence
is indicated in Table 14.
_Breeding schedule._--The breeding season spans the period May 11 to
June 20 (Fig. 6); the modal date of egg-laying is June 5, and 57 per
cent of all clutches are laid in the period June 1 to 10.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.2, 3-6; 33). Mean
clutch-size is 4.3 eggs in May and 4.2 in June. Adults tend to lay
clutches of 5 eggs and first-year birds clutches of 4. Replacement
clutches by birds of any age tend to be of 3 eggs.
Nests are built of sticks and mud placed in cavities; in Kansas these
are almost always in colony houses erected by man. Use of holes and
crevices in old buildings is known to have occurred on the campus of
The University of Kansas in the nineteen thirties (W. S. Long, 1936,
MS), in Oberlin, Decatur County in 1908-1914 (Wolfe, _loc. cit._), and
presently in Ottawa, Franklin County (Hardy, 1961).
=Blue Jay=: _Cyanocitta cristata bromia_ Oberholser.--This resident is
common throughout Kansas in woodland habitats. Most first-year birds
move south in winter, but adults tend to be strictly permanent
residents. Groups of ten to more than 50 individuals can be seen
moving south in October and north in April. All individuals taken from
such mobile groups are in first-year feather.
_Breeding schedule._--Eighty-three records of breeding span the period
April 10 to July 10 (Fig. 7); the modal date of egg-laying is May 15,
and about 50 per cent of all clutches are laid in the period May
11-31. _Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.1, 3-6; 15).
Nests are placed from eight to 70 feet high (averaging 24 feet) in
forks, crotches, and on horizontal limbs of elm, maple, osage orange,
cottonwood, and ash.
=Black-billed Magpie=: _Pica pica hudsonia_ (Sabine).--This resident
is common in western Kansas, along riparian groves and woodland edge.
Records of nesting are from as far east as Clay County. Wolfe (1961)
outlines the history of magpies in Decatur County as follows: the
species was purported to have appeared in rural districts near Oberlin
in 1918, but Wolfe saw the birds only by 1921, at which time he also
found the first (used) nests. The first reported occupied nest was one
in Hamilton County in 1925 (Linsdale, 1926). Earlier records, chiefly
of occurrence in winter, can be found in Goss (1891).
_Breeding schedule._--Fourteen records of breeding span the period
April 11 to June 20; the modal date for egg-laying is May 15.
_Number of eggs._--There are no data on clutch-size in Kansas;
elsewhere Black-billed Magpies lay 3 to 9 eggs, and clutches of 7 are
found most frequently (Linsdale, 1937:104).
Nests are placed from 10 to 18 feet high (averaging 13 feet) in forks
or lateral masses of branches in cottonwood, box elder, ash, and
willow.
=White-necked Raven=: _Corvus cryptoleucus_ Couch.--This summer
resident is common in western Kansas, probably occupying locally
favorable sites in prairie grassland and woodland edge west of a line
from Smith to Seward counties. The species is known to nest in
Cheyenne, Sherman, and Finney counties.
_Breeding schedule._--There are few data from Kansas; Aldous (1942)
states that the birds begin activities leading to building sometime in
April in Oklahoma; the peak of egg-laying probably occurs in May,
which coincides with the records from Kansas.
_Number of eggs._--Outside Kansas, this species lays 3 to 7 eggs;
these figures seem applicable to Kansas, where brood sizes are known
to run from 1 to 7 young.
Nests are placed about 20 feet high in cottonwood and other trees.
=Common Crow=: _Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos_ Brehm.--This
resident is common in most of Kansas, but numbers are lower in the
west. Distribution in the breeding season is west at least to
Cheyenne, Logan, and Meade counties.
_Breeding schedule._--Sixty-nine records of breeding span the period
March 10 to May 31 (Fig. 7); the modal date for egg-laying is April 5,
and 60 per cent of all eggs are laid between March 21 and April 10.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.2, 3-5; 19).
Nests are placed about 20 feet high in crotches near trunks or heavy
branches of such trees as red cedar, elm, oak, osage orange,
cottonwood, honey locust, box elder, and pine.
=Black-capped Chickadee=: _Parus atricapillus_ Linnaeus.--This
resident is common north of the southernmost tier of counties, in
forested and wooded areas. _P. a. atricapillus_ Linnaeus occurs
chiefly east of the 98th meridian, and _P. a. septentrionalis_ Harris
occurs west of this; a broad zone of intergradation exists between
these two subspecies. _Breeding schedule._--Fifty-one records of
breeding span the period March 21 to June 10 (Fig. 7); the modal date
for laying is April 15, and 64 per cent of all eggs are laid between
April 11 and 30.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (5.4, 4-7; 10).
Nests are placed in cavities about ten feet high (ranging from four to
20 feet) in willow, elm, cottonwood, honey locust, apricot, or
nestboxes placed by man.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Histograms representing breeding
schedules of crows, chickadees, wrens, thrashers, thrushes, and
their allies in Kansas. See legend to Figure 1 for explanation
of histograms.]
=Carolina Chickadee=: _Parus carolinensis atricapilloides_ Lunk.--This
resident is common in the southernmost tier of counties, from Comanche
County east, in forest and woodland edge. Actual records of breeding
are from Barber and Montgomery counties.
_Breeding schedule._--There are no data on breeding of this species in
Kansas.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 5 eggs.
Nests are placed in cavities of trees.
=Tufted Titmouse=: _Paras bicolor_ Linnaeus.--This resident is common
in the eastern half of Kansas, in woodlands. Specimens taken in the
breeding season and nesting records come from east of a line running
through Cloud, Harvey, and Sumner counties, and the species probably
breeds in Barber County.
_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-two records of breeding span the period
March 21 to June 10 (Fig. 7); the modal date for laying is April 25,
and 54 per cent of all clutches are laid in the period April 11 to 30.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 to 5 eggs (4.5; 6).
Nests are placed in cavities about 12 feet high (ranging from three to
30 feet) in elm, oak, cottonwood, hackberry, redbud, osage orange, and
nestboxes placed by man.
=White-breasted Nuthatch=: _Sitta carolinensis_ Latham.--This resident
in eastern Kansas, in well-developed woodland, is uncommon. _S. c.
cookei_ Oberholser occurs east of a line running through Douglas and
Cherokee counties, on the basis of specimens taken in the breeding
season and actual nesting records, and _S. c. carolinensis_ Latham
occurs in Montgomery and Labette counties. _S. c. nelsoni_ Mearns has
been recorded in Morton County but probably does not breed there.
_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in March and April; young have
been recorded being fed by parents throughout May.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is between 5 and 10 eggs.
Nests are placed in cavities about 30 feet high in elm and sycamore.
=House Wren=: _Troglodytes aedon parkmanii_ Audubon.--This summer
resident is common in the east and uncommon in the west. Preferred
habitat is in woodland, brushland, and urban parkland. House Wrens
arrive in eastern Kansas in the period April 3 to 27 (the median is
April 19), and are last seen in autumn in the period September 19 to
October 13 (the median is September 30).
_Breeding schedule._--The 116 records of breeding span the period
April 11 to July 31 (Fig. 7); the modal date of laying is May 20.
About 45 per cent of all clutches are laid in the period May 11 to 31.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 7 eggs (5.8, 3-7; 20). Clutches laid
in May average 6.1 eggs (4-7; 14); those laid in June and July average
5.0 eggs (3-7; 6).
Nests are placed in cavities about ten feet high (ranging from two to
50 feet) in cottonwood, elm, willow, and a wide variety of structures,
mostly nestboxes, built by man.
=Bewick Wren=: _Thryomanes bewickii_ Audubon.--This wren is an
uncommon resident in Kansas, except for the northeastern quarter, in
woodland understory and brushland. _T. b. bewickii_ Audubon occurs
north and east of stations in Riley, Pottawatomie, Douglas, and Linn
counties, and _T. b. cryptus_ Oberholser is found south of stations in
Greeley, Stafford, and Linn counties; a zone of intergradation occurs
between the two named populations. The species occupies marginal
habitat in most of Kansas and periodically is reduced in numbers by
severe winters.
_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-two records of breeding span the period
March 21 to July 10 (Fig. 7); the modal date for first clutches is
April 15 and for second clutches June 15.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (5.5, 5-7; 12).
Nests are placed in crevices about five feet high (ranging from zero
to nine feet) in trees (oak, cherry, and pear), boulders, and a wide
variety of structures, some of them nestboxes, built by man;
appropriation and modification of nests of Barn Swallows is known to
occur.
=Carolina Wren=: _Thryothorus ludovicianus ludovicianus_ Latham.--This
common resident of southeastern Kansas in woodland understory and
brushland is uncommon in the northeastern and south-central sectors.
Stations of breeding all fall east of a line running through Doniphan,
Riley, and western Reno counties. North and west of southeastern
Kansas the Carolina Wren is in marginal habitat and periodically is
reduced in numbers by severe winters.
_Breeding schedule._--Fourteen records of breeding span the period
April 11 to August 10; the modal date for laying is April 15, to judge
only from the present sample. The species probably breeds also in late
March and early April.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.2, 3-8; 9).
Nests are placed near the ground in stumps, and a wide variety of
structures built by man, or in crevices in earthen banks.
=Long-billed Marsh Wren=: _Telmatodytes palustris dissaeptus_
(Bangs).--This is an uncommon summer resident in eastern Kansas in and
around marshes. Presumably breeding individuals occur east of stations
in Doniphan, Shawnee, and Sedgwick counties, but actual records of
breeding come only from Doniphan County (Linsdale, 1928:505). First
dates of arrival in spring run from April 19 to 29 (the median is
April 22), and dates of last autumnal occurrence are from September 26
to October 31 (the median is October 8).
_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid from May to August.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 or 6 eggs; the range is from 3 to
10 (Welter, 1935).
Nests are woven of broad-bladed grasses, usually no farther than two
feet from water or mud, suspended in vertical plant stalks or branches
in marshes.
=Short-billed Marsh Wren=: _Cistothorus platensis stellaris_
(Nauman).--This rare and irregular summer resident in northeastern
Kansas occurs in wet meadowland. Breeding records are available from
Douglas and Coffey counties. Temporal occurrence in the State is at
least from April 29 to October 25; early dates are most likely of
transients.
_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid in late July and August.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 6 or 7 eggs.
Nests are woven of plant fibers and placed in vertically-running
stalks and stems of grasses and short, woody vegetation, within two
feet of the ground.
=Rock Wren=: _Salpinctes obsoletus obsoletus_
(Say).--This species is a common summer resident in western Kansas, in
open, rocky country. Specimens taken in the breeding season and actual
nests found come from west of stations in Decatur, Trego, and Comanche
counties. Dates of occurrence are from April 2 to October 25.
Autumnal, postbreeding movement brings the species east at least to
Cloud County (October 7, 8, and 12) and Douglas County (October 25).
_Breeding schedule._--Sixteen records of breeding span the period May
11 to July 20; the modal date for egg-laying is June 15.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (4.6, 3-7; 5).
Nests are placed in holes in rocks, occasionally in rodent burrows,
from ground level to 80 feet high on faces of cliffs, but there
averaging about 20 feet.
=Northern Mockingbird=: _Mimus polyglottos_ (Linnaeus).--This is a
common resident in parkland and brushy savannah throughout Kansas. _M.
p. polyglottos_ (Linnaeus) occurs in the east, and _M. p. leucopterus_
(Vigors) in the west; a broad zone of intergradation exists between the
two. Most specimens from Kansas are of intermediate morphology.
_Breeding schedule._--Sixty-nine records of breeding span the period
April 21 to July 31 (Fig. 7); the modal date for first clutches is
June 5, but is weakly indicated in the histogram (Fig. 7).
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 eggs (3.5, 3-5; 27). Size of
clutch does not vary seasonally or geographically in the present
sample.
Nests are placed about four feet high (two to 10 feet) in osage
orange, red cedar, mulberry, scotch pine, catalpa, cottonwood, rose,
and arbor vitae.
=Catbird=: _Dumetella carolinensis_ (Linnaeus).--This is a common
summer resident in the eastern half of Kansas, but is local in the
west, in and near woodland edge and second-growth. First dates of
arrival in spring are from April 25 to May 14 (the median is May 6),
and last dates of autumnal occurrence are between September 20 and
November 16 (the median is September 26).
_Breeding schedule._--Seventy-seven records of breeding span the
period May 11 to July 31 (Fig. 7); the modal date for egg-laying is
May 25, and 57 per cent of all clutches are laid from May 21 to June
10.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (3.3, 2-5; 43). Clutches laid
between May 11 and June 10 tend to be of 4 eggs (3.5, 2-5; 27), and
clutches laid between June 11 and July 31 tend to be of 3 eggs (2.9,
2-4; 16).
Nests are placed about four feet high in shrubs (rose, lilac, plum,
elderberry) and about seven feet high in trees (red cedar, honey
locust, willow, elm, apple, and in vines in such trees).
=Brown Thrasher=: _Toxostoma rufum_ (Linnaeus).--This is a common summer
resident in woodland understory, edge, and second-growth. _T. r. rufum_
(Linnaeus) occurs in eastern Kansas, to the western edge of the Flint
Hills, and _T. r. longicauda_ Baird occurs west of stations in Decatur,
Lane, and Meade counties; the intervening populations are of
intermediate morphologic character. Some individuals overwinter in
Kansas, but most are regular migrants and summer residents, arriving in
spring from April 1 to April 25 (the median is April 19), and departing
in autumn between September 19 and October 13 (the median is September
28).
_Breeding schedule._--The 237 records of breeding span the period May 1
to July 20 (Fig. 7); the modal date for egg-laying is May 15, and
one-third of all eggs are laid in the period May 11 to 20.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs, ranging from 2 to 5. Seasonal
variation and mean values are shown in Table 15.
Nests are placed about four feet high (ranging from 1-2/3 to 15 feet) in
osage orange, elm, ornamental evergreens, gooseberry, barberry, honey
locust, cottonwood, red cedar, rose, plum, honeysuckle, spirea, arbor
vitae, willow, oak, apple, dogwood, and maple.
TABLE 15.--SEASONAL VARIATION IN CLUTCH-SIZE OF THE BROWN THRASHER
============+==================+===================
TIME | Mean clutch-size | Number of records
------------+------------------+-------------------
May 1-10 | 3.3 | 15
May 10-20 | 3.9 | 38
May 21-31 | 4.1 | 13
June 1-10 | 3.5 | 13
June 11-20 | 3.5 | 12
June 21-30 | 3.4 | 9
July 1-10 | 3 | 1
July 11-20 | 3 | 1
All: | 3.63 | 102
------------+------------------+-------------------
=Robin=: _Turdus migratorius migratorius_ Linnaeus.--This summer
resident is common in the east, and is locally common in the west.
Some individuals, usually in small groups, can be seen throughout the
winter in eastern Kansas, and their presence makes it difficult to
document dates of arrival and departure of the strictly summer
resident birds; these can be said to arrive in March and to leave in
October, but these indications are the barest approximations.
_Breeding schedule._--The 334 records of breeding span the period
April 1 to July 20 (Fig. 7); the modal date of laying of first
clutches is April 25, but subsequent peaks are indistinct. Nearly half
of all eggs are laid in the period April 11 to 30.
_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 eggs (3.6, 3-6; 57). Clutches laid
prior to May 10 average 3.6 eggs (3-6; 47), and those laid subsequent
to May 10 average 3.5 eggs (3-4; 10).
Nests are placed about 13 feet from the ground (ranging from two to 30
feet) in elm, ornamental conifers, fruit trees, cottonwood, mulberry,
walnut, hackberry, oak, ash, maple, osage orange, and coffeeberry.
Robins rarely nest in manmade structures, such as on rafters in sheds
and barns, on bridge stringers, and, exceptionally, on electrical
utility pole installations.