84 



THE OOLOGIST 



August 1, and September 21 to 26, 

 1901, the guest of my life-long friend, 

 George E. Lewis, of Tallahassee, 

 whose family owned the most sub- 

 stantial home at that place. All my 

 observations herein noted were made 

 at that time, and I may add that I 

 have not visited James Island since. 

 Dog Island, mentioned in the sub- 

 joined notes, is an island of sub- 

 stantial proportions, lying about eight 

 miles southwest of St. Teresa and five 

 or six miles from the mainland. Its 

 vegetation is very scanty and rank, 

 but its shores are favorite feeding 

 grounds for various species of shore 

 birds, and formerly were occupied by 

 hundreds of Black Skimmers during 

 the nesting season. We visited the 

 island in George's sloop "The Betty," 

 and our mission usually was the fin? 

 crabbing and bathing which that 

 island affords. I was credibly in- 

 formed that Roseate Spoonbills oiicj 

 abounded on Dog Island, but such wai 

 the cruelty of man that none had 

 been seen there in many years. 



Species Observed Between July 20 

 and August 1 



1. B'sck Skimmer, Sea Gull. (Ryn- 

 chops nigra). Two were seen on Dog 

 Island. Their actions indicated a nest 

 or young nearby. One evening about 

 eight o'clock I saw, in the moonlight, 

 a Skimmer "ploughing the sea." I 

 could distinctly discern the lower 

 mandible, which it will be remembered 

 is considerably longer than the upper, 

 cutting the water as the bird flew al- 

 most touching the surface. 



2. Anhinga, Water Turkey. (Anhin- 

 ga anhinga). One day I found several 

 perched in the branches of some trees 

 in and near a fresh-water pond, about 

 a quarter of a mile back of St. Teresa. 

 Indications were that they had nested 

 there during the spring. 



3. Florida Cormorant, Nigger Goose. 



(Phalacrocorax auritus floridanus.) 

 There was scarcely a moment of the 

 day while I was at St. Teresa that one 

 or more of these birds was not in 

 sight. At this time they were rather 

 solitary in their habits but when I 

 again visited the place in September 

 I found them in flocks of from five to 

 ten, occasionally more. Out in front 

 of the house and a short distance 

 from shore a post projected up some 

 two or three feet above the water at 

 high tide. This post was almost con- 

 stantly "capped" by one or another 

 Cormorant. We often saw them on 

 the sand bars at low tide and at times 

 met with them swimming some dis- 

 tance from the boat. They were al- 

 ways cautious and wary. 



4. Wood Ibis. (Mycteria ameri- 

 cs.na). On July 20, as we were ap- 

 proaching a small pond back of St. 

 Teresa, several of these birds flushed 

 from the trees around the pond. They 

 disappeared and I did not see them 

 again. 



5. Great Blue Heron, Crane. (Ardea 

 herodias). Common on James Island, 

 frequenting the area in proximity to 

 the shores and often seen on the sand 

 bars at low tide. I also found them 

 feeding in the fresh-water ponds back 

 of St. Teresa. There was scarcely a 

 moment of the day that one or more 

 could not be seen on the beach. They 

 appeared to be as active at night as 

 during the day. On several occasions 

 I watched them silently stalking back 

 and forth in shallow water till my bed 

 time. Frequently at night I heard 

 their vociferous "hawk" or "squak" as 

 they would pass to and fro in front of 

 the house. 



6. Egret, White Crane. (Herodias 

 egretta). I saw several in the trees 

 in and around the fresh-water ponds 

 back of St. Teresa and occasionally 

 watched one or more feeding along 

 the beach, 



