62 BIRDS OF COLORADO. 



203. Nycticorax violaceus. Yellow-crowned Night 

 Heron. 



Summer visitant; rare. A southern species coming casu- 

 ally north to Colorado. Not known to breed. The only re- 

 corded specimen is the one in Mrs. Maxwell's collection and 

 that is known to have been taken in Colorado, but where can 

 not now be learned. 



204. Grus americana. Whooping Crane. 



Migratory; rare. A Mississippi Valley species reaching 

 its most western extension in Colorado at the western edge of 

 the plains, where it was first recorded by C. E. Aiken who 

 marks it as "seen occasionally in migration." It has since 

 been noted by Wm. G. Smith at lyoveland and there is a very 

 fine mounted specimen in the museum of the State Agri- 

 cultural College at Fort Collins. Passes through during the 

 first half of April. 



205. Grus canadensis. Little Brown Crane. 

 Migratory. Not enough material has yet been accumulated 



to give a satisfactory statement of the distribution of this bird 

 in Colorado. All of the earlier records of "G. canadensis'''' re- 

 fer to the next species now called G. mexicana. It is certain 

 that the Little Brown Ci;ane occurs in Colorado in migration 

 for Capt. P. M. Thorne has taken it at Fort Lyon and there is a 

 mounted specimen at the Agricultural College at Fort Collins. 



206. Grus mexicana. Sandhill Crane. 



Summer resident; not uncommon locally; in migration, 

 common; winter resident in the southern part of the State. 

 The Rio Grande Valley in Colorado used to be the winter home 

 of thousands of Cranes and even yet they are abundant enough 

 in the fall to induce many parties to go to the San Luis Valley 

 for the express purpose of hunting Cranes. They breed locally 

 throughout their range from 5,000 to 7,500 feet. F. M. Drew 

 mentions that one of their breeding grounds is in Animas Park 

 at 7,000 feet. (B. N. O. C. VI. 1881, 85.) They are also known 

 to breed in Routt County. In the autumn they move higher 

 up, having even been seen passing over above the highest 

 mountain peaks of the State. In the San Luis Valley the mi- 

 grating birds appear in large numbers about the middle of Sep- 

 tember and remain until the first of November; they return in 

 the spring any time between the first and twentieth of March, 

 depending on the season, and leave about the first of May. If 

 the Little Brown Crane occurs there it is not distinguished by 

 the hunters from the Sandhill. 



