Wapello County is located in the southeast part of Iowa with one county between it and the Iowa-Missouri line and three counties east of it between it and the Mississippi river. It is bounded on the north by Mahaska and Keokuk Counties, on the east by Jefferson County, on the south by Davis County, and on the west by Monroe County. Its county seat is Ottumwa. The Des Moines River flows diagonally across the county from northwest to southeast. It is quite heavily timbered for most of its course, affording an excellent route for the migration of birds common to the timbered regions. As its tributaries in the immediate vicinity of Ottumwa it has Sugar Creek on the eastern edge of the city, Harrow\u27s Branch on the western edge and Bear Creek flowing into the river from the South. As the river approaches the city from the northwest, it makes a great bend to the east, returning to its diagonal course at about the centre of the city. The land in the interior of this bend has been platted in part as an addition to Ottumwa and is known as Central Addition. At the time of my observations, Central Addition had not been developed to any great extent, and as the land it included was quite low and marshy, a great thicket of willow saplings and underbrush had grown up making shelter for a great variety of birds in their season, especially for the warblers. This was the best locality close in to the city for bird study, and I spent much time there
