Vol. XXII-j Wayne, Notes on South Carolina Birds. ^g$ 



NOTES ON CERTAIN BIRDS TAKEN OR SEEN 

 NEAR CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. 



BY ARTHUR T. WAYNE. 



Gavia imber. Loon. — On June 12, 1905, my friend, Dr. 

 Eugene Edmund Murphy, who was making a trip by water from 

 Charleston to my place, saw an adult of this bird. On June 19. 

 1905, while I was coming home from Dewees Island, S. C, I saw 

 a young Loon and watched it for about 30 minutes. It dove with 

 the greatest ease, and would remain under water for a very long 

 time, and nearly every time it appeared, a fish was seen in its bill. 

 This bird could not have been wounded, thus preventing it from 

 migrating. On June 9, 1902, I observed an immature bird of the 

 above species. 



Gavia lumme. Red-throated Loon. — I shot an example 

 of this boreal loon on April 8, 1905, near Long Island, S. C. 

 The specimen is a young male and is in first winter plumage, 

 changing into nuptial plumage on the sides of throat. This speci- 

 men makes the second taken near Charleston. For a record of 

 the first, see 'The Auk,' Vol. VII, January, 1S90, p. 88. The first 

 specimen was taken on October 15, 1889, by the writer and is in 

 first winter plumage. 



Sterna caspia. Caspian Tern. — As far as I am aware there 

 has never been any specific record of the occurrence of this large 

 tern for the coast of South Carolina, it being generally con- 

 founded with the Royal Tern (Sterna maxima), ever since the 

 time of Audubon and Bachman. The former, in his ' Birds of 

 America,' Vol. VII, p. 78, refers to the Cayenne Tern (= Sterna 

 maxima) as breeding in Labrador, which was a mistake, as the 

 tern Audubon found breeding there was the Caspian (S. caspia). 



On April 24, 1905, a most magnificent adult male, in perfect 

 nuptial plumage, was shot by my nephew, Mr. Ferdinand Gre- 

 gorie, Jr., at my request. The Caspian Tern is a permanent resi- 

 dent on the South Carolina coast, and it breeds in small numbers 

 on ' Bird Bank,' Bulls Bay. On June 19, 1905, I counted upwards 

 of fifty of these terns when I was off Dewees Island, S. C, and 



