LOCAL FAUNA 



Bob-white Breeding in tiie City. — That wild Bob-whites should 

 not only live but actually breed in Charleston shows what delightful 

 surprises the city bird observer meets with now and then. On 

 March 19 Mr. William Barker saw a Bob-white in Major T. G. Bar- 

 ker's lot on Tradd Street. Although I kept a sharp lookout, I 

 saw nothing of the bird until April 30, when two were observed. 

 At about this time their clear ringing calls began to be heard and 

 were thenceforward familiar bird music until about the middle of 

 July. The birds were often seen, sometimes a pair, sometimes 

 three, and once, on June 4, four. I heard rumors throughout the 

 summer of young birds observed, but failed to substantiate the re- 

 ports and saw no evidence of breeding on the part of the Bob- 

 whites until October 5, when one young bird, about one-third 

 grown and apparently just able to fly, was observed. Although 

 silent and very shy at this season, the old birds are evidently still 

 on hand, since I saw one of them less than a week ago (on Oct, 16). 

 During their stay in the city, I have seen the Bob-whites in my 

 lot and in three adjoining lots. They have evidently ranged very 

 widely, being seen and heard as far away as Meeting Street and 

 South Battery near King. The record is a most interesting one, 

 though not unprecedented. Mr. Edward L. Wells informs me that 

 about 1888 a covey of twelve or fourteen birds inhabited Major 

 Barker's lot. Mr. Ellison A. Smyth, Jr., in a list of the birds of 

 Charleston published in "The Budget" of August 12, 1888, states 

 that a pair at liberty bred in a yard on Legare Street. On Feb- 

 ruary 14, 1899, when the weather was bitterly cold, I saw a soli- 

 tary Bob-white perching on a low brick wall between Major Bar- 

 ker's lot and the property to the west. 



The Cliff Swallow in the City. — On August 151 saw perched on the 

 top of a tall pole in the Rutledge lot on Tradd Street a bird which 

 apparently was the Cliff Swallow. I examined the bird carefully 

 with a telescope and as it was not more than a hundred yards dis- 

 tant was able to see every marking distinctly. The following is a 

 brief description: Back steel-blue, the feathers ghnting in the 

 sun ; forehead white, this marking showing very distinctly ; throat 

 and breast brownish with a darker ring, forming a crescent shaped 

 frontlet; beneath white or hght gray marked with rufous. The 

 Cliff Swallow is very rare in this state (See Wayne, Birds of 

 South Carolin;^ -age 139). Although I feel sure that the bird 



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