THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 57 



The Whooping Crane has a rather narrow range in the in- 

 terior of North America. It lies between Colorado and Ohio, 

 and extends from the Fur Countries southward to Florida, Texas 

 and Mexico. 



Gnis mexicana (Miill.). Sandhill Crane. 



Ardea (grus) mexicana MtJLL., S. N., Suppl., 1776, 110. 



Grus mexicana Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., XIII, 1817, 561. 



Orus canadensis Nuttaix Man., II, 1834, 38 (neo Ardea canadensis 



Linnsus). 

 Popular synonym : Beown Cbane. 



A rare migrant. According to Mr. E. W. Nelson, they 

 formerly nested abundantly in the larger marshes of our regio-i. 

 Mr. B. T. Gault informs me that in the seventies he saw single 

 birds and occasionally two or three together, flying high above 

 the city in a northerly direction. However, he never saw them 

 in the fall. In the museum of Northwestern University there is 

 a fine specimen of this species, taken in the seventies by Mr. 

 Charles S. Raddin, who shot the bird at Evanston while walking 

 along the beach of Lake Michigan. 



The range of the Sandhill Crane covers the southern half 

 of North America, though it is said to be rare on the Atlantic 

 coast north of Georgia. It breeds in Florida and Cuba and in the 

 states west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast. 



FAMILY EALLIDiE: RAILS, GALLINULES AND COOTS. 

 Genus EALLUS Linnaeus, 1758, 



Ballns elegans Audubon. King Rail. 



Rallus elegans Audubon, Orn. Biog., Ill, 1835, 27, pi. 203. 

 Popular synonyms : Red-bkeasted Bail. Maesh Hen. Mud Hen. 

 Sedge Hen. 



A common summer resident, nesting in the thick rushes bor- 

 dering our lakes and in clumps of grass in meadow marshes. It 

 is the largest of our rails, and is very shy, rarely taking wing 

 and depending upon its long legs as means of escaping an in- 

 truder. The King Rails arrive within our limits when the grass 

 is quite short and affords but poor shelter for them. In conse- 

 quence large numbers are annually shot. They begin to depart 

 for their winter home the latter part of September. 



The range of the King Rail is almost confined to the Middle 

 States and it is a bird of the fresh-water marshes. In the salt 

 marshes of the Atlantic coast and that of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 it is replaced by the Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans). 



