44 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



treme end of the island. The birds were very noisy and their 

 antics so peculiar, that I watched them closely for a long time. 

 In those days my knowledge of ornithology was very limited 

 as regards the geographical distribution of species, and I was not 

 aware of the importance of my discovery. 



There is no question whatever that these birds were breeding, 

 but I did not wade into the pond on account of moccasin snakes, 

 which were abundant. About two weeks later, however, a rel- 

 ative who had been spending several months at Cape Canaveral, 

 Florida, brought to me, upon his return to Charleston, several 

 complete sets of eggs of the Black-necked Stilt, that he had per- 

 sonally collected at the Cape. His description of the breeding 

 habits of the birds, left no doubt in my mind that the birds I 

 saw were breeding. 



The pond was destroyed by a very severe storm before 1884, 

 and since my discovery was made, I have failed to note again 

 the presence of this species in South Carolina. 1 



The nest of the Black-necked Stilt is placed upon the ground 

 and lined with grass, but sometimes it is built in tussocks of grass 

 in a pond. The eggs number three or four, and are of a brown- 

 ish or buff color, spotted and blotched with black, and measure 

 1.75X1-25. 



FAMILY SCOLOPACID^E: SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



93. Philohela minor (Gmel.). Woodcock. 



As this well-known game bird breeds regularly here it is a per- 

 manent resident. In the summer months, however, it is very 

 hard to find. The woodcock is very erratic in its movements in 

 winter. During some winters scarcely more than a few pairs 

 are to be seen, and these I take to be the resident, non-migratory 

 birds. At intervals of five or six years enormous flights take 

 place and the region about Mount Pleasant seems to be the ob- 

 jective point. A great flight occurred on December 27, 1892, 

 and the numbers were so great that many clumps of bushes con- 

 tained from ten to fifteen individuals. 



The greatest flight on record took place on February 13 and 

 14, 1899, and I quote the account I published in the Auk: 2 



i See Auk, XXIII, 1906, 57-58. » XVI, 1899, 197. 



