1965 AHH Journal
24 June (p.2) Fort Hays Kans. State Coll, Ellis Co., Kans. Set 2 pit traps (2 lb. coffee cans) in grasses (one by wooded area). Rana pipiens & small toads (B. woodhousei?) picked up by various members of class as was a Thamnophis sirtalis. I captured a Natrix sipedon that was sunning on a board in a small stream of water connected 2 ponds. Got bitten for my pains. Dickcissels, Red-winged Blackbirds, Green Heron, Crows, House Sparrows, W. Kingbird. Beaver tracks about. Picked up carapace of Chelydra serpentina, plastron, several limb bones, etc. Dead oriole (Balt.) pick up DOR at city limits. One dickcissel nest found. Low (5-6 “ above ground), fixed to grasses, well-built. Mowing had exposed one side & clipped away some of the support one that side. Built near the edge of drop-off into pond-creek area (several feet from edge). Four blue eggs and a speckled, light greenest-blue cowbird egg. Green heron nesting in trees along Big Creek on campus. 25 June I checked the two can-traps. A beetle or 2 only. The dickcissel nest was tilted and 3 eggs dumped out (presumably due to loss of support. I
