BIG BIRD ISLAND 55 



were built of grass; each contained three pale bluish 

 eggs, larger than those of the Little Blue Heron. 



I found several nests of the Big Blue Herons on this 

 island. They were voluminous structures, each contain- 

 ing three eggs or three young birds. When one realizes 

 the fondness of this Big Heron for a nest-site in the 

 tallest of trees, he cannot fail to appreciate the adapta- 

 bility of nature's subjects to conditions as they find 

 them, when he sees a Great Blue Heron's nest on the 

 ground, surrounded by grass and cactus. (Fig. 11.) Most 

 of the nest-building material, except the coarse grass 

 for the Heron and Pelican nests, must be carried from 

 the mainland three miles away. I saw one of these big 

 birds flying with a two-foot piece of brush to be used in 

 constructing its home. 



Many of the Pelican nests contained only one egg, 

 although the usual quota is three; in some the young 

 were just leaving the shell, and in others they were cov- 

 ered with pin-feathers and were half-grown, showing 

 that these birds have a variable laying and hatching 

 period. 



The year before, as I have stated, I had visited the 

 great Pelican ground on the nesting island in the Indian 

 Eiver, Florida; but a few days before my arrival a 

 flood had washed the nests and eggs away and I found 

 only the dejected and sad-looking birds, waddling aim- 

 lessly about the island, as though they thought, "Well, 

 what's the use*?" So I congratulated myself on my good 

 fortune in finding this big colony in the full period of 

 incubating and feeding the young. I spent many hours 

 with these birds. 



There were probably eight or ten thousand Laughing 

 Gulls on the island ; their nests of grass and dead weeds 

 were on the ground, everywhere. I could hardly step 

 without disturbing an incubating or laying Gull. The 

 eggs, two to four in number, were of a muddy brown, 

 with drab-colored spots. There were no young Gulls in 

 any of the nests, as the season had been one of unusual 

 lateness with many cold spells. 



These Gulls, like all of their kind, are inveterate 

 thieves. When I approached the Pelican nesting site 

 and some of the old birds flew away from their young, 

 they did not dare to remain away long, for the Laughing 



