but one other bird that it could possibly be, and that one no 

 one is ever looking for in South Carolina — the Roseate Spoon- 

 bill (Ajaja rosea) . But the next moment a slight change 

 of direction brought the head and bill into view and it was 

 the Spoonbill — the bird that Dr. Bachman sav\^ only three 

 times in twenty years, and Audubon never saw at all. I 

 have heard of but one other record, years ago at Beaufoit, 

 and have no assurance that the bird seen then was not a 

 flamingo. In the present instance the identification was 

 positive. 



October 3, 1905. The Black Crowned Night Heron {Nyc- 

 tiardea grisea naevia, Cones,) is common enough and maybe 

 seen about the marshes almost any evening or early morning, 

 usually on the wing or perched on some tree. The Yellow 

 Crowned Night Heron {Nyctiardea violacea), however, is a 

 very much rarer bird, and more frequently heard than seen. 

 On the date mentioned I walked down to a marshy creek 

 near Bull's Bay, about five miles from Awendaw Bridge, to 

 pick up any ornithological facts that might be "lying around 

 loose," and was at once attracted by what looked like a large 

 hawk perched on a. dead limb some six hundred yards avv^ay. 

 The limb, however, overhung the v/ater too near the surface 

 to be a likely resting place for any large hav/k of my acquain- 

 tance, and on bringing my glasses to bear on it I saw at 

 once that it was a heron, though evidently none with which 

 I was familiar. Crossing the bridge I saw it fly down to the 

 edge of the marsh and made a long stalk along the wooded 

 margin only to flush a small Blue Heron from apparently the 

 very spot. I knew that this was certainly not my bird, and 

 pushed on a few yards furtlier, when tv\^o herons, unknov/n 

 to me, flapped up and away, but too much hidden by the 

 bushes to be identified except by general contour and mode 

 of flight. I followed, saw them standing on the mud far up 

 the creek bed, and in flve minutes more had two Yellow- 

 Crowned Night Herons under my bird glasses not fifty yards 

 distant and entirely unsuspicious of my presence. It v/as a 



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