31 



GENUS NYCTICORAX STEPHENS. 

 Submenus NYCTICORAX. 



*68. Nycticorax ny cticorax nae vius (Boid.). BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. "QUAWK," 



" SQUAWK," " QUA-BIRD." 



Regular migrant. Not common summer resident locally. Breeds in some 

 numbers in the northern part of the State, Starke County, " English Lake," (Deane). 

 They nest in May and June. Mr. Deane says, June 10, 1888 : " Large numbers in 

 the heronry, and many flying over were carrying sticks and building." 



Subgenus NYCTINASSA Stejneger. 



*69. Nycticorax violaceus (Linn.). WHITE-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. 



Common summer resident in some parts of the lower Wabash Valley. Breeds. 

 I give Mr, Ridgway's account of his observations concerning this species in Knox 

 County : " A colony of perhaps a hundred pairs having their nests among the tall 

 ash and sweet-gum trees in a creek bottom, near the edge of the pond. The nests 

 were mostly at a considerable height and few of them readily accessible. They 

 had just begun to lay, and were frightened away from the locality during a 'wef 

 spell ' by squirrel hunters. A female was shot from her nest April 27, and a per- 

 fect egg cut from her oviduct. Several fine specimens of the bird were secured, 

 and it was noticed that the delicate, almost luminous, yellowish buff of the fore- 

 head very soon faded." (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, January, 1882, p. 22.) 



ORDER PALUDICOL^E. CRANES, RAILS, ETC. 



SUBORDER GRUES. CRAXES. 



FAMILY GRUID^E. CRANES. 



GENUS GRUS PALLAS. 



70. Grus americanus (Linn) WHOOPING CRANE. 



Rare migrant. It is not improbable that it may occasionally breed, since Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson found it breeding in Illinois. Dr. Stein noted it once in the lower 

 Wabash Valley; Mr. Trouslot reports it from Porter County, April 25, 1887 ; Mr- 

 L. T. Meyer, writing from Lake County, says: "Rare, exceedingly so. Formerly 

 a summer resident, but the draining of the Kankakee marsh has driven them 

 away." Mr. Chas. Dury writes me of its occurrence in " North Indiana ; also near. 

 Bloomington." " Formerly abundant." (Dr. Bray ton.) 



*71. Grus mexicana (Mull.) SANDHILL CRANE. 



Regular but generally a rare migrant; and rare summer resident. Most 

 numerous on the prairies, and from what I can learn was formerly much more 

 common than now. Have been reported from the greater part of the State, ex- 

 cepting the Whitewater Valley, from which I can learn of no records. At times, 

 in certain localities, they seem to be common. Mr. Deane informs me that Sep- 

 tember 21, 1889, he saw " a good many " at English Lake, and the same authority 

 informs me it has been found breeding at North Judson. "Formerly breeding 

 abundantly in the large marshes of the State." (Dr. Brayton.) 



