56 BIRDS 



Gulls collected in screaming masses over the Pelicans' 

 nests. Every morsel of food lying about or in a nest 

 was quickly seized by a Gull, who was promptly pursued 

 by those less fortunate and made either to swallow the 

 stolen fish or drop it to be caught by some one of the 

 pursuers. A very young Pelican is not eschewed by these 

 brigands. 



Pelicans do not collect their food from the ground 

 when once disgorged or dropped during the feeding 

 process, so I presume the Gulls are a benefit to the Peli- 

 cans' surroundings because they remove decaying fish. 



The year before I visited the island, Mr. T. Gilbert 

 Pearson had found on Little Bird Island, a mile away, 

 forty of the Great White Pelicans, nesting — a rare find, 

 indeed, as these birds do not, as a rule, nest south of 

 Utah and Wyoming. But not a vestige did I find of 

 a nest of these birds on either Little Bird Island or 

 Big Bird Island. In fact. Little Bird Island was prac- 

 tically deserted, for I found only a few Boat-tailed 

 Graeckles' and two or three Big Blue Herons' nests on 

 the whole island. 



On Big Bird Island the Black Skimmers were begin- 

 ning to arrive in large numbers and their sand-exca- 

 vated nests were just being formed. I found only one 

 egg of these peculiar birds. They were flying up and 

 down the shoreline with their long lower mandibles skim- 

 ming the water, picking up minnows, occasionally, as they 

 flew; and all the while some were objecting to my pres- 

 ence by their usual bark-like voices and by sudden dart- 

 ings around my head. 



One day, as I was walking through the grass, a 

 Purple Gallinule flew up from beneath my feet and join- 

 ing the throng of Gulls in the air was soon lost to view. 



The sky and sun were behind masses of heavy clouds 

 most of the time I was on the island, thus hampering 

 my efforts at good speed flight pictures with the Gra- 

 flex, but affording ideal conditions for tripod work on 

 nest and eggs. 



