SPECIES. 83 



a rod wide by several long the ground was found to be splashed with 

 the chalk-like droppings of the birds, and in spots a foot or more in 

 diameter had been probed to such an extent b}' their long bills that it 

 reminded one of a colander. The holes thus made were from 1 to 2 

 inches in depth. An examination of the earth showed that there was 

 a compacted layer of black decaying leaves from one-fourth of an inch 

 to 1 inch in depth. Below the layer of leaves, some of which were 

 not so rotted but that they retained their integrity, was found moist, 

 yellowish-gray sand. Twenty examinations of the ground were made, 

 each within a few inches of a spot marked by the borings, in order to 

 secure specimens of invertebrates on which the woodcock subsists. 

 The ground was dug up to the depth of several inches, and in the 

 region where the leaves and sand met. large numbers of earthworms, 

 spiders, snails, hydrophilid beetles, ground-beetles and their larvae, 

 and the larvee of tipulid Hies were unearthed. All of these have been 

 taken from the stomachs of woodcock collected elsewhere. A search 

 was made out in the middle of the swamp, where the black humus is 

 from 6 inches to 3 feet in depth, but no food of any consequence could 

 be found, which may account for the absence of woodcock in the 

 middle of the swamp. 



On the creeks below Marshall Hall woodcock are abundant, and 

 during the fall of 1901 were slaughtered in enormous numbers. Laws 

 limiting the bag per day and prohibiting summer shooting are greatly 

 needed in this county. 



A Wilson snipe {(Tcillinago ddlcafa) was flushed from the swamp on 

 the upper part of the Hungerford farm April 11. 1S99. 



Two yellowlegs {Tota/i^/s rlai'lj)es) were noted on October 5. 1901, 

 flying along the shore near the calamus swamp. 



Solitary sandpipers {HeJoclromas soUtarius) and spotted sandpipers 

 {Act it is macula ria) were observed most often in May. One of the lat- 

 ter birds, which was killed May 16. 1900, had eaten one large black 

 ant. two ground-beetle larvee. and a dozen May-flies. 



Two killdeers [^Egialitis vocifera) were seen on the farm April 11, 

 1S99, and one July 21, 1902. 



The turnstone {Arenarict morineUa) has been noted b}^ Mr. O. N. 

 Bryan. 



GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



On the Bryan farm a covey of bob whites [CoJinus virginianiis^ PI. 

 XV, fig. 1) was found during the fall and winter of 1901 along Persim- 

 mon and Partridge branches. They fed in the wheat stubble on the 

 west side of lot 3 (PL XII. flg. 2) and slept in the thick broom-sedge of 

 the west side of lot 2 (PI. XVI, tig. 1). Another covey, which usuallj^ 

 inhabited lot 5. could occasionally be seen feeding on the luxuriant 

 growth of partridge pea in lot 1 (Pi. XV^I, fig. 2). More of these 



