iSSs-] Agersborg on Birds of Southeastern Dakota. 28*7 



178. Numenius hudsonicus. Hudsonian Curlew. — Common mi- 

 grant. 



179. Numenius borealis. Eskimo Curlew. — In spring often very 

 abundant. 



180. Eudocimus albus. White Ibis. — Accidental; shot one of two 

 seen in a marsh, twelve miles north of the Missouri River in Maj', 1S79. 



181. Ardea herodias. Great Blue Heron. — Rare in summer; breeds. 



182. Butorides virescens. Green Heron. — Not common ; breeds. 



183. Nyctiardea grisea naevia. Night Heron. — Rare migrant; seen 

 only on the sandbars of the Missouri River. 



184. Botaurus lentiginosus. American Bittern. — Common summer 

 resident. Breeds in old fields, but oftener in rushes and among the tall 

 growth of Spartina cynosnroides and Calamagrostis canadensis. 



185. Grus americana. Whooping Crane. — Rare migrant. 



186. Grus canadensis. Sandhill Crane. — Common migrant. A few 

 remain during the breeding season. I have never found its nest, but am 

 reliably informed of its breeding here. 



187. Rallus elegans. Red-breasted Rail.— Rare summer resident. 

 Have never found its nest. 



18S. Rallus virginianus. Virginia Rail. — -Not common summer res- 

 ident; breeds. 



189. Porzana Carolina. Sora Rail. — Abundant summer resident: 

 breeds in large numbers on our bottom lands. 



190. Fulica americana. American Coot. — Abundant summer resi- 

 dent; every marsh and slough is covered with Coots' nests. 



191. Olor buccinator. Trumpeter Swan. — Migrates through here in 

 small numbers in spring and fall. 



192. Anser albifrons gambeli. American White-fronted Goose. — 

 Rare migrant. Always found associating with the Snow Geese. 



193. Chen hyperboreus. Snow Goose. — Formerly abundant spring 

 and fall migrant; now rare. These Geese are easily tamed, and I have 

 successfully used them as decoys by depriving them of their power of flight 

 and keeping them with a picket-rope or loose in the yard. They are very 

 sensitive to cold, and their feet often freeze in winter unless they are kept 

 in warm quarters. 



194. Chen cserulescens. Blue-winged Goose. — Rare. Occasionally 

 one is shot out of a flock of Snow Geese. 



195. Bernicla canadensis. Canada Goose. — Common migrant. Like 

 the Snow Geese, it is becoming less common every year. In spring it ar- 

 rives a week ahead of var. Jtutckinsi, and ten or twelve days earlier than 

 the Snow Goose. The same order of migration is also noticed sometimes 

 in the fall. It breeds here occasionally. The young have been hatched 

 under hens and become very tame. I have several times been shown nests 

 in trees, claimed by settlers to be the nests of Geese, but the 'Geese' have 

 invariably been found to be Cormorants (P/ialacrocorax dilopkus). Of 

 the few -nests of the Canada Goose found, the majority have been far away 

 from any water out on the prairies ; but one nest was built among some 



