CITIES OF THE BROWN PELICANS 5 



them. Then we stood up and shouted, but hardly a bird rose. 

 There they sat upon their nests, hundreds and hundreds of 

 them, many within forty or fifty feet, solemnly gazing at us. 

 It was not until we sprang out upon the shore that there 

 was any considerable flight, and even then we noticed that it 



"IT WAS NOT UNTIL WE SPRANG OUT UPON THE SHOKE THAT THERE WAS 

 ANY CONSIDERABLE FLIGHT ' 



occurred only within a radius of fifty or sixty feet, the rest of 

 the colony remaining on their nests apparently in perfect 

 unconcern. We also noticed with delight, as we went back to 

 the boat for more plates, that the flying birds, after a short 

 circle out over the water, came right back and settled upon 

 their nests. The fear that it would be next to impossible to 

 secure pictures at close range was proven groundless. 



Equipped with all necessary photographic implements, we 

 now started out for a thorough tour of inspection. A great 

 area of nests lay before us, a few of them built on the spread- 

 ing limbs or tops of the mangrove bushes, but the great 

 majority were on the sand, usually about a yard apart. Those 



