The Audubon Societies 



321 



management of the Secretary, T. Gilbert fund had been realized to t he extent of 

 Pearson, was nearly $150,000, and the a permanent fund of nearly half that 

 dream of a million dollar endowment amount. 



EXPLORING FOR NEW BIRD COLONIES 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



Illustrated with Photographs by the Author 

 (Concluded^ 



Leaving the Second Chain-of-Islands, 

 with their nesting colonies of Reddish 

 Egrets, Herons, Terns, Skimmers and 

 Laughing Gulls, we ran northward into the 

 open waters of San Antonio Bay, Texas. 

 On the right we passed the low-lying sand 

 shoal known as Bird Island, where in 1018 

 I had found a small colony of breeding 

 Brown Pelicans. Our field glasses failed to 

 reveal any signs of life that day, however. 

 Later four Man-o'-War Birds were seen 

 perched on the cross-pieces of channel 

 stakes. Occasionally Laughing Gulls and 

 Terns were seen. At the northern end of 

 the bay, a flock of eighteen Roseate Spoon- 

 bills went by in their usual flight forma- 

 tion. Passing through the canal at Port 

 o'Connor, we entered Matagorda Bay and 

 late that evening turned sharply to the 

 left into the body of water known as 

 Carancahua Bay. On a small sand spit at 

 the entrance we were greeted with the sight 

 of eight stately Wood Ibis, two elegant 

 Roseate Spoonbills, and five dainty and 



vivacious Snowy Egrets. All the way up 

 the bay, flocks of Herons passed us 

 which augured well for the success of our 

 search for a rookery said to exist in that 

 region. In the rain that night, just before 

 dark, we dropped anchor at the head of 

 Carancahua Bay. 



In the early morning a landing was made. 

 Here, on the point of a little peninsula on 

 Wolf Point Ranch, several hundred pairs 

 of Louisiana Herons and Ward's Herons 

 were breeding. The colony was also occu- 

 pied by about fifty pairs of large Egrets 

 with a larger number — perhaps seventy- 

 five pairs — of Snowy Egrets. Great-tailed 

 Grackles, Black-crowned Night Herons, 

 and Black Vultures were also numerous. 



While the Finleys made moving pictures 

 from their blind set up in the rookery, I 

 rode over much of the surrounding country 

 in company with W. R. Sells, the planta- 

 tion owner. Along the shore and about the 

 sloughs we found many Black-necked 

 Stilts and Western Willets. I was inter- 



ARANCAHUA BAY ROOKERY. TEXAS 

 The white spots are Snowy Egrets 



