56 THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Popular synonyms : AMERICAN BLACK-CEOWNED NIGHT HEEON. QUAK. 



QUA-BIRD. QUAWK. 



Although abundant throughout the summer and fall, I have 

 never found it breeding within our limits. It may usually be 

 seen, during the day time, roosting in the tops of the trees of the 

 woods bordering our numerous small lakes and swamps. Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson says :* "The first of July, 1874, 1 saw a few young 

 of the year in the Calumet marshes." He also found it nesting, 

 and counted fifty nests within an area of two acres, at Grass 

 Lake, Lake County, Illinois, a few miles north of our limits. 

 These nests were built in dense bunches of rice, and were placed 

 upon the stiff stalks of rice and cane of the year before. These 

 birds leave our neighborhood early in October. 



The range of this Heron includes the whole of temperate 

 and tropical America from the British Possessions south to Chili. 



ORDER PALUDICOL^E: CRANES, RAILS, 



ETC. 



FAMILY GRUIim CRANES. 



Genus GEUS Pallas, 1766. 

 Grns americana (Linnseus). Whooping Crane. 



Ardea americana LINNAEUS, S. N., ed. 10, I, 1758, 142. 



Orus americana VIEILLOT, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., XIII, 1817, 557. 



Grus hoyanus DUDLEY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, VII, 1854, 



64 (Young). 

 Popular synonyms ; GBEAT WHITE CBANE. WHITE SANDHILL CRANE. 



A few are heard, while passing overhead during their migra- 

 tions, uttering their discordant cries. Mr. B. T. Gault informs 

 me that his observations show that they arrive early in the 

 spring and that the latest record of their return in the fall is 

 August 6. Mr. E. W. Nelson says that it was "once an abundant 

 migrant, but is now of rare occurrence in this vicinity." Mr. 

 Robert Kennicott states that, "Though at present exceedingly 

 rare, this bird was once not uncommon in this region. "|| The 

 only record I have found of the actual taking of a specimen 

 within our limits is that of Spencer F. Baird who mentionsf 

 a specimen of this species which was collected by Mr. Thomas E. 

 Blackney who took it at Chicago in June, 1858. This specimen 

 is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. 



*Birds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 131. 

 li Trans, of the Illinois State Agri. Soc., Vol. I, 1853-1854, 587. 

 tPacific B. B. Beports Vol. IX, 1858, 655. 



