70 



THE OSPREY. 



feathers of warblers I could identify the Mag-- 

 nolia, Blackburiiian, Black-throated Blue and 

 Cerulean, but there were at least 8 or 10 other 

 species. 



I found no trace of a mammal either in the nest 

 material or in the pellets. I took the young- 

 Owls home and kept them for over two weeks, 

 but they develoi>ed such voracious appetites 

 that I could not spare time to shoot English 

 Sparrows enough for them. They were never 

 tame — chasing one about tlie room continually 

 or climbing up one's trouser leg. Woodpecker 

 fashion. Tliey seemed to enjoj' pla^-ing on the 

 floor with my little boys, or crawling- over my 

 water spaniel and nestling down beside him. 

 Unless gorged with food they continually make 



A VISIT TO PELICAN ISLAND 

 By L. W. Bro-wnah, 



I WAS spending the spring of 1894 in Enter- 

 prise, a small collection of houses on St. 

 John's River, Florida, and as I wished to 

 lay in a suppU' of Pelican eggs, 1 concluded to 

 take a short trip to Indian River and down to 

 Pelican Island, about which I had heard a good 

 deal. Leaving Enterprise on April 14, I went 

 about 35 miles to Titusville, the largest town on 

 Indian River, and there hired a boatman with 

 a large, comfortable, flat-bottomed "sharpie," 

 about the only style of boat that can sail in 

 that very shallow water. Bright and early 

 next morning we started for the rookery, about 

 65 miles down the river; it took us two days and 

 a half to get there, as we had to beat against 

 head winds most of the way, but about noon of 

 tlie 17tli we arrived at our destination. 



Pelican Island is situated in what is known 

 as the Indian River Narrows, and does not 

 exceed an acre in size; it is absolutely barren, 

 except a sparse growth of long rank grass. 

 Undoubtedly trees have been on it at some 

 time, as a few dead stumps are still standing; 

 but they have all been killed by the excrement 

 of the birds. One can smell the obnoxious odor 

 at least half a mile if the wind is in the right 

 direction, and on the island it is simply stifling. 

 The birds nest principally at one end of the 

 island, but a few scatter all over the place. 

 The nests are built mostly on the ground, a few 

 in the stunted apologies for trees before men- 

 tioned. So close togetlier are they placed that 

 often two nests merge into one; they are com- 

 posed entirely of sticks with a lining of straw, 

 and are sometimes two feet in height, evidently 

 having been used for a number of seasons. 

 Some of the birds are so lazy that they do not 

 attempt to build a nest, but lay their eggs on 

 the bare ground. 



As we approached tlie island the birds rose in 

 a dense mass, over a thousand, I should think 

 at a rough estimate, making a noise nearly as 

 loud as thunder with their wings; but our 

 advent did not seem to create a very great dis- 

 turbance, as they only flew about a hundred 

 yards and then settled upon the water to watch 

 proceedings. 



Nearly every nest contained either eggs or 

 young, the former in every stage of incubation 

 and the latter at every age; and there were 

 some young of the year among the old birds. 

 On approaching them too closely, they try to 



a whistling, hissing noise, like escaping steam, 

 during the daytime: at nig-ht they were always 

 quiet, even in a strong- light. Nine Sparrows a 

 day for tlie three was the least number they 

 could get along- with, but it required 12 or 15 to 

 satisfy them. Once they ate 19 sparrows and 

 the skinned bodies of 2 warblers in one day. 

 The marsh where they were found is extensive, 

 and there is no lack of mice — in fact, small 

 rodents are very plenty; so it is no doubt from 

 choice that the young- were fed on birds. The 

 locality was one of the very best for securing 

 small mig-rating birds, as they would naturally 

 follow the willow-fringed ditches rather than 

 fly across an open treeless marsh 2 or 3 miles. 



, ON INDIAN RIVER, FLORIDA. 



Nyack-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



frighten one away by hissing and snapping 

 viciously with the beak. When they are first 

 hatched, and until they are some days old, they 

 are without a feather, and in that condition not 

 a tiling of beauty; I think that the Pelican is 

 the ugliest and most awkward bird we have. 

 The 3'oung'- are exceedingly voracious; thej' will 

 take a fish nearly as large as themselves and 

 attempt to swallow it whole, often without suc- 

 cess, however. They frequently sit with their 

 beak pointing straight up toward heaven, with 

 the tail of a fish prntruding- from it, and in that 

 position they remain until the head of the fish 

 is sufficiently digested to allow the rest of it to 

 go down. 



My boatman started in to see how many eggs 

 he could collect in a short time, and began to 

 fill a basket irrespective of "sets;" but I soon 

 put a stop to that, and sent him back to the boat 

 to cook dinner while I was collecting. The 

 birds did not attempt to disturb me in tliis opera- 

 tion, apparently caring little or nothing what 

 became of tlieir egg-s, for whicli I was yery 

 thankful, as one could do nothing against their 

 concerted attack. In about an hour I had col- 

 lected all I could conveniently handle, about 

 125 sets. So I returned to the boat to find din- 

 ner nearly ready, but as tlie stench was too 

 overpowering to think of anything to eat there, 

 let alone eating it, we weighed anchor and got 

 away as quickly as possible. 



The number of eg-g-s in a nest ranged all the 

 way from one to eight and nine, but as I found 

 tliree or four to be tlie typical clutch, I con- 

 cluded that those containing large numbers 

 were owned conjunctively by two birds. There 

 were, however, a number of nests with only one 

 incubated eg-g-, or with one lone chick, and there 

 were many instances of the carelessness of the 

 old birds in kicking- the eg-gs and even the young 

 out of the nest — in the latter case allowing them 

 to starve. I saw no case such as I have read 

 about, of full fledged young and fresh eggs 

 occupying the same nest; but there were sev- 

 eral nests containing young of very different 

 ag-es — as much as two or three weeks difference 

 in some cases. 



On retiring- that nig-ht I found that two of the 

 eggs had developed extraordinarj- musical pow- 

 ers; but not being- fond of that kind of music, 

 especially at a time when I was strugg^ling to 

 court Morpheus successfully, I arose and ejected 



