302 



THE OOLOG1ST. 



Shore Birds at Lake Roland and Loch Raven, 

 Baltimore Co., Md. 



Lake Roland, one of our Reservoirs, 

 is situated seven miles from Baltimore, 

 on the line of the Northern Central 

 railroad. The elevation of water sur- 

 face is 225 feet above tide water and at 

 high water level it covers an area of 116 

 acres. 



It is supplied by seven streams, vary- 

 ing in size from one of only a few inch- 

 es in width to one of about twenty feet 

 wide. 



It is well stocked with Black Bass 

 and Carp, but they get so much natural 

 food that it is slow sport fishing for 

 them . 



The long drouth in August and Sep- 

 tember of the present year (1893) made 

 the water reach a low level of 12 ft. 9 

 in. below its normal depth, and laid 

 bare a large expanse of mud flats about 

 the upper end. These have been cov- 

 ered all summer by Shore birds of var- 

 ious kinds. 



Another of our Reservoirs is Loch 

 Raven, which is about Hi miles from 

 Baltimore and is an enlargement of the 

 Gunpowder Falls, formed by damming 

 it up. 



The following are some of the birds 

 noted at the two lakes from time to 

 time, between August 19th to Septem- 

 ber 4 th. 



Podilymbus podiceps. Pied-billed 

 Grebe. Three small Grebes were seen 

 about 200 yards out on the lake and 

 I took them to be of this kind. 



Sterna anlillarum. Least Tern. — 

 Several times while watching the birds 

 I saw a pair of these little Terns at 

 Lake Roland. They spent most of the 

 time flying about over the water, dart- 

 ing down to it at times in the shallow 

 places. Sometimes they would spend 

 a long time standing in the water 

 where it was only an inch or two deep. 

 Once I saw one of them dart down 

 towards a flock of small Sandpipers 



scattering them as if they had seen a 

 Hawk. 



Anas obscvra. Black Duck. — A 

 young female of this species was shot 

 at the head of Lake Roland, August 

 28th. 



Ardea herodias. Great Blue Heron. 

 Almost the whole summer a Great Blue 

 Heron remained about Lake Roland, 

 and once I saw a pair of them. They 

 were ' generally absent from about 10 

 a. m. till 3 p. in., when they would put 

 in their appearance and go to fishing 

 along the edge of the mud. On several 

 occasions I also saw one at Loch Raven. 



Ardea virescens. Green Heron. — One 

 or two could always be seen about 

 Lake Roland, and I found them mnch 

 more plentiful at Loch Raven. 



Nycticorax nycticorax ncevius. Black- 

 crowned Night Heron. — August 19th 

 in walking through the woods near 

 Lake Roland I flushed a pair from the 

 trees. I think several pairs of these 

 birds nested in the vicinity of the lake 

 although I was unable to And the place. 



Tringa minutilla. Least Sandpiper. 

 On several occasions I saw about twen- 

 ty-five of these little fellows feeding 

 with a fiock of larger birds of various 

 kinds. 



Ereunetes pusillus. Semipalmated 

 Sandpiper. — On August 19th there 

 were only seven of these birds at Lake 

 Roland, as far as I could ascertain. On 

 the 20th there must have been between 

 200 and 300, then they gradually disap- 

 peared until on September 4th there 

 were only about twenty to be seen. On 

 August 26th I saw ten at Loch Raven 

 and shot one. 



Totanus melanoleucus. Greater Yel- 

 low-legs. — The only record I have was 

 a single one seen at Loch Raven Aug- 

 ust 26th. It was very wild and I was 

 uot able to secure it. 



Tolanus Jlavipes. Yellow-legs. — Aug- 

 ust 19th I saw a flock feeding on mud 

 flats at upper end of Lake Roland. 

 While I was watching them one over- 



