206 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



eggs, at an early day, in Hancock county. "Their nests being 

 uniformly in the water, formed by tramping rush stalks down 

 until the pile reached the surface, these nests often float about 

 with the mother birds upon them." 



On May 24, 1894, I purchased two eggs of the Sandhill Crane 

 from a boy who had taken them one week previously in a marsh 

 along the headwaters of the Iowa River, northwest of Hay field, 

 Hancock county. He showed me the nest (apparently an old 

 muskrat house) in a narrow, reedy slough between two low, grav- 

 elly hills. We saw several Cranes in the vicinity but the}^ were 

 very war}^, and we could locate no more nests. The eggs were 

 slightly incubated, lacked the greenish tint ob.served in a set of 

 Whooping Cranes, and the shells had a much smoother surface. 

 I have not visited this locality for several years and do not know 

 whether any Cranes are still nesting there. 



G. H. Berry noted the Sandhill Crane as a rare summer resi- 

 dent near Hawarden, Sioux county, in 1890. Nearly all the later 

 observers report the species present, but only as a migrant. The 

 only differing report came from W. H. Bingaman, who reported 

 it as a "rare breeder" in Kossuth county (1905). 



The University museum has several specimens from various 

 Iowa points which measure up to the average of G. viexicana as 

 given by Coues, viz.: Length 40-48; wing 22; bill 5-6; tail 9. 



Suborder RALLI. Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. 

 Family RALLID^. Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. 



This is a large family of marsh-inhabiting birds, generallj^ with 

 the body narrow and compressed and the legs strong, enabling 

 them to make their way with ease through dense, reedy marshes. 

 Their food consists of both animal and vegetable matter, picked 

 up from the surface of the ground or water. 



Subfamily RALLIN^. Rails. 

 Family RALLUS Linnaeus. 



80. (208). Ralhis clega7is A.\xd. King Rail. 



The King Rail or Fresh-water Marsh Hen is a tolerably com- 

 mon summer resident in nearly all parts of the state and breeds 

 wherever suitable sloughs and marshes are found. The species 

 is retiring in its habits, hiding in the thick clumps of sedges, and 

 is rarely seen unless its favorite haunts are penetrated for this 



