The Booming of the Prairie Chicken

a pair of Dowitchers in a small shallow pool near the north-central end of the island.It was still in the gray plumage with only a slight indication of the stripe down the neck and therefore, considering the date, it must have been a male.The long slender bill and lack of a wing stripe were noted and when compared directly with the White-rumped Sandpipers the Phalarope appeared slightly larger.Earlier in the morning, while studying the shore-birds feeding on a mud-fiat in the Port Terminal Reservation, an army reservation in North Charleston, I identified a single Baird's Sandpiper (Pisobia bairdi).This bird was carefully studied for half an hour from a distance of about fortyfive feet and direct comparison of size was possible with White-rumped Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpiper and Lesser Yellow-legs.The buffiness on the sides and breast was not clear-cut as in the Pectoral Sandpiper but 'faded out' and the general tone above was lighter.I am well acquainted with the Balrd's Sandpiper, having seen it frequently in the middle-west and I feel as certain as one can, through sight identification, that this bird was of that species.Since there are no South Carolina records for this bird (see Bent, 1927, Bull.U.S. Nat.Mus., CXLII, p. 201) it should have been collected but as I was inside a military post I hesitated about doing this.