1895] MARYLAND ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 289 



At Washington, D. C, it is recorded as follows: "April 26 

 ('91) one seen, May 16 ('88) one seen, July 20 ('90) one noted, 

 July 28 ('89), two seen, August 8 (94, Wm. Palmer) one seen, 

 August 11 ('89) one seen, and on August 21 ('94 E. J. Brown), 

 several seen and shot" (Richmond). 



"Dr. Treichler, of Lancaster County (Pa.), mentions it as an 

 irregular breeder; he has found young about half grown in the 

 Conowingo meadows early in Jidy" (Birds Pa., 91). 



On May 23, '93, I came across one feeding in an ice pond 

 with but little water ; I was within 20 feet and watched it 

 through a field glass. It waded with a dainty step, sometimes 

 having perceptibly to pull its feet out of the mud, and once 

 when it got in deeper water swam a few feet with a hurried 

 stroke. Small insects on or in the water, on bottom, on weed 

 stems or on bank it swallowed at once. Tiny tadpoles it worked a 

 second between mandibles and dipped a couple of times in water, 

 apparently to get them head first. One large one it immediately 

 ran ashore Avith and hammered it on the ground for some 

 little time before swallowing it. In wading it sometimes had 

 the water up to its breast and belly. Generally not more than 

 the bill was immersed, but often the head, occasionally the neck, 

 and once half of the body. 



Symphemia semipalmata (258). Willet. 



While not as numerous as it used to be, this species is not 

 uncommon on our ocean front, where it still breeds in limited 

 numbers. At Chincoteague Bay, I noted one on June 5 ('94); 

 another on the next day, and three on the 7th at the same place ; 

 and Mr. C. W. Dirickson, of Berlin, says : "On their way north 

 in spring a few stop and stay with us all summer. They lay 

 their eggs in very much the same place as the terns, and in fact 

 you can sometimes find both nesting very close together." I 

 am informed that they breed in large numbers on Chincoteague 

 Island, and also on INlockhorn and Smith's Islands, Va. "A 

 few still breed on the New Jersey coast" (Birds E. Pa. and 

 N. J., 76-77). 



