^°'i^^^ ] BowDiSH, Bird Pholographing in the Carolinas. 307 



stoj^ping en route to photograph nests and eggs of Least Tern and 

 a Wilson's Plover nest. ^Nlost of the Least Terns had two eggs, a 

 few had only one and two had three. We also stopped for a very 

 short time at Bird Island Shoal where some fifty Brown Pelicans and 

 one hundred Royal Terns, with a few Black Skimmers, a large num- 

 ber of small sandpipers and one or two W^illets were congregated. It 

 was a well patronized feeding ground but there was no sign of any 

 nesting. At Vessel Reef, a sandspit of about one half acre, there 

 were about 1000 Black Skimmers, 500 Brown Pelicans and 75 

 Royal Terns. The Pelicans were not nesting but laying had just 

 connnenced with the Terns and Skimmers. We also noted one 

 Oystercatcher nesting-hollow with one egg, and another with two. 



We reached our final destination in Bulls Bay, at Raccoon Key, 

 about five p. :m. This is an island of considerable size and some of 

 its sand dunes are fairly high. There were a good many Wilson's 

 Plovers nesting here and perhaps fifty pairs of Least Terns. There 

 were also quite a few Willets but they were much harassed by minks 

 and Fish Crows; one nest with three eggs and another with one being 

 the only ones we found that had not been robbed. In two cases we 

 found the remains of birds that had been caught on the nests by minks 

 and killed, while the empty shells in the nests beside them showed 

 where the eggs had been sucked. We found one Oystercatcher's 

 nest with two eggs. We remained at Raccoon Key till the following 

 afternoon, when we returned to Charleston, having secured some 

 very good photographs of Wilson's Plover, as well as of nests and 

 eggs. On June 14 we secured the services of young Mr. Grimble 

 with his gasolene boat, to visit the second heron rookery, Avhich was 

 on an island in the salt marsh on his father's property. This trip to 

 and from the island took up the most of two days and was unsuccess- 

 ful, as apparently the only nesting birds were a few Green, two or 

 three Louisiana, and one pair of Black-crowned Night Herons. 

 Boat-tailed Crackles and Red-winged Blackbirds had also nested 

 there. Two dead Snowy Herons and remains of several Little Blue 

 Herons were found. The evening flight of herons into the rookery 

 indicated that it was being used as a roosting place by a considerable 

 number of birds. A Black Vulture was seen in the rookery. 



We left Charleston on the evening of the loth, for Lake Ellis, 

 North Carolina, which we reached about noon the following day 



