THE GREAT CUTHBERT ROOKERY 



75 



upon a firmer branch, where he stood very sweetly for his 

 picture. I also secured pictures of the adults in flight or 

 upon the trees, from the boat. 



Upon their previous visit here, my friends had seen twelve 

 of the elegant Roseate Spoonbills fiying about, and had 

 examined a few nests, containing either three large eggs 

 beautifully blotched with lilac, or the downy young of very 



YOUNG LITTLE BLUE HERON. "STOOD VERY SWEETLY FOR 

 HIS picture" 



tender age. Now they were all gone, their nests being 

 plundered by crows or buzzards. The only trace of them 

 I found was a single spoonbill's egg in an ibis's nest, with 

 two eggs of the ibis. 



The Fish Crow and the Turkey Buzzard represent the pre- 

 datory forces which are allied with man in waging war upon 



