1853.] 



425 



The Committeo on Dr. Hoj's continuation of his " Notes on the 

 Ornithology of Wisconsin," reported in favor of publication. 



Notes on the Ornithology of Wisconsin. Water Birds, 



[Concluded,] 



RALLIDiE, (6 species.) 



*Gali.inula galeata, Lich. 



Abundant as far north as Lake Winnebago, latitude 44* 



*FuLiCA Americana, Gmel. 

 Comnnon in all large marshes/ 



*Rallus elegans, And. 



Abundant, nest in the prairie slews. 



Ralll's Virginiajnus, Linn. 



Common. 



*Ortygometra Carolina, Linv. 



Greatly abundant spring and fall, a few remain during summer to nest. 



Orttgometra noveboracensts, Lath. 



By no means uncommon. The young of this and the preceding three species 

 of Rail are fully fledged by the 15th of August. 



GRUID.E, (10 species.) 



Grus Americana, Forster. 



A few white sandhill cranes are occasionally seen in the western part of ^the 

 State, near the Mississippi, but never approach the Lake shores, where the fol- 

 lowing species is common. It would appear that the white is a more southern 

 species than the brown. 



*GRrs Canadensis, Temm. 



Found on all our large prairies. Although we have seen large flights of these 

 birds, we never saw, or heard of, a white individual within one hundred miles 

 of Lake Michigan. A pair has nested regularly for fifteen years in a swamp 

 nine miles from Racine, (we have noticed them ourselves regularly for the last 

 seven years,) and they still continue in color unchanged. The locality of this 

 nest is in a few tussocks of grass, in the midst of an almost impenetrable swamp, 

 the nest is composed of coarse grass, built up in a conical form eighteen inches 

 or two feet high, so situated that when the parent bird sits upon, or rather astride 

 of this pyramidal nest, her feet hang down on either side into the water. The 

 old nest is regularly repaired every spring. 



Tantalus loculator, Livn. 



There is a fine specimen of this southern bird in the museum .of the Wisconsin 

 State Historical Society, at Madison, which was shot near Milwaukie, September, 

 1852. 



*Ardea Herodias, Linn. 

 A common species. 



*Ardea virescens, Linn. 



Not uncommon in the wooded swamps of the timbered districts, never met 

 with in the prairie marshes. 



*BoTAL"RUS LENTIGINOSUS, SwainS. 



Abundant in the marshes and sleu\^ of the prairies. The young are fully 

 fledged by the 20th of July. We have witnessed the bittern emit his peculiar 

 call " pump-aii-gah ;" the head is drawn up to the'breast, the neck being much 

 dilated, when the first syllable /?;:> is uttered in a heavy low tone, the second 

 syllable aic is emitted with a partial extension of the neck, and the final gah is 

 accompanied with a violent darting forward of the head to the full extent of his 



