io8 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



ocean, but usually they are seen lazily floatint; in 

 space, or else on their roosts or flocking on the 

 beach. 



On Bird Key, Dry Tortugas, off Florida, 

 some hundreds of them stay in the Tern colony 

 during the nesting season. \\^hile I was there 

 they committed no depredations, but the warden 

 says they attack the Terns as these are bringing 

 fish for their young, compel them, through 

 vicious swoops, to disgorge, and deftly catch the 



delicacy, usually before it reaches the water. 

 Thousands of them, likewise, stay on Indian Key 

 Reservation, Fla., near St. Petersburg, and won- 

 derful soaring flights may be seen poised over 

 the island. At close range their great hooked 

 bills give them a rather fierce appearance, though 

 of talons they have little to boast, their feet being 

 weak and clumsy, fit only for perching. But 

 their wings might well be the envy and despair 

 of many another bird. Herbert K. Job. 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



MAN-O'-WAR-BIRD (| nat. size) 

 A genuine feathered aeroplane 



