THE BIRDS OF WISCONSIN. 
33 
osity, and the next day a more extended search was made, 
which resulted in the specimen being found, in such a state, 
however, that only enough was preserved for identification. 
In September, 187:2, T. and L. Kumlien saw seven on a large 
mud flat near Black Hawk Island, Lake Koshkonong, but did 
not succeed in getting within range. A specimen was shot 
on Lake Horicon (now Horicon Marsh) November 3, 187!), 
and is preserved in the Milwaukee Public Museum. We have 
positively seen this bird on the Mississippi near Prairie du 
Chien in August, some twenty years ago. 
FAniLY CICONIID^E: STORKS AND WOOD IBISES. 
Tantalus loculator Linn. WOOD IBIS. 
There are recorded several captures of this southern species 
within the state. Can be classed only as a very rare mid- 
summer straggler at the present day, however. It is, or was, 
supposed to ascend the Mississippi in July and August quite 
regularly, on hearsay evidence alone. Rev. A. C. Barry in 
1854 refers to a specimen shot at Milwaukee "a year or two 
since," which may be the same specimen referred to by 
Dr. Hoy in 1852, as "in the Museum of the Wisconsin State 
Historical Society at Madison, which was shot near Milwaukee, 
September, 1852." We were informed, however, that the 
specimen in Madison was shot on the Mississippi at La Crosse 
in 1852, and the Milwaukee specimen was preserved in the 
Museum of the old Natural History Society there. Dr. Hoy 
also procured a specimen at Racine in September, 1868 (1). A 
specimen was mounted by S. Sercomb at an early date, killed 
on Rock River, between Janesville and Edgerton. This speci- 
men was seen and examined by Thure Kumlien, but as it was 
the property of a private individual, we do not know if it is still 
in existence. 
FAMILY ARDEID^E: HERONS, BITTERNS, ETC. 
Botanrus lentiginosns (Montag.). AMERICAN BITTERN. 
Common summer resident in all suitable localities from the 
southern tier of counties northward, but most numerous in 
the southern third of the state. A few remain in the fall until 
severe weather sets in, sometimes even into November. The 
idiotic practice of so-called "sportsmen" invariably to kill these 
1. Letter from Dr. Hoy to L, Kumlien. Nelson, Birds N. E. 111., gives 
the date as 1869. 
