lo WILD WIXGS 



birds, the efforts of the American Ornithologists' Union in 

 appointing a warden to watch the colony, and a bettering of 

 public sentiment in Florida, realizing the great value of inter- 

 esting wild life in attracting tourists. Our own party is a case 

 in point. To see this pelican colony, heron rookeries, and 

 other bird resorts, three of us — one more having followed — 

 had come all the way from New England, meaning several 

 hundred dollars distributed among railroads, boarding-houses, 

 guides, stable-men, and store-keepers ; and we are only a few 

 out of thousands. The people of Florida are short-sighted 

 indeed if they allow vandals and plume-hunters to massacre 

 these pelicans, herons, and other interesting creatures. 



In making an expedition of this kind to such great bird 

 resorts as this pelican colony, one feels like a general who is 

 planning and conducting the siege of some great capital. 

 Plans must be carefully made beforehand, the photographic 

 equipment must be complete and in perfect order, and the 

 worker must be in readiness to take advantage of every 

 favoring circumstance. My cquii^ment at this time lacked the 

 very desirable reflecting camera, but I had two good long- 

 focus cameras, a 4 x 5 and a 5 x 7, with good lenses and 

 a telephoto lens besides. These I was determined to use for 

 all they were worth, and with them I went systematically 

 to work to "take" Pelican Island and all its defending gar- 

 rison. 



First I took a number of general views, snap-shots with 

 camera in hand, of the pelicans on their nests and in flight. 

 Then, with the camera on the tripod, I photographed nests at 

 close range, with eggs and yt)ung, using the ball and socket 

 clamp. When these general, I might say " routine," matters 

 had been disposed of, I had the rest of the time for that 

 fascinating, but often slow and exasperating, branch of the 

 subject — bird-portraiture. Over at the farther end of the 



