76 



THE OSPREY. 



PELICAN ISLAND, INDIAN RIVER, FLORIDA. 



food. The size of the advanced young- 

 gave evidence that nesting" probably be- 

 g"an by the first of January, if not by 

 December 15. A few of the young- we 

 judg-ed to be at least three weeks old, and 

 as incubation probably occupies a month, 

 a reasonable inference may be drawn as 

 to the beg-inning- of nest-building-. 



Nearly all of the nests were built on 

 the sand, and thoug-h a few complete 

 nests were still empty, about all contained 

 two, three or four eg-g-s, or young-, or 

 both. Three eg-g-s appear to be the 

 usual set, althoug-h several held four and 

 many more only two, while some nests 

 held a sing-le incubated eg-g-. A g-reat 

 many nests just started were also distrib- 

 uted about, and litter, dead birds, old and 

 young-, and a few fish were scattered 

 around, making- a most untidy and unat- 

 tractive spot, which only the g-entle 

 breeze made endurable. Many old nests, 

 some of previous years I doubt not were 

 in evidence, thoug-h the occasional rush 

 of the tide over the low island makes this 

 doubtful. 



A few black mang-roves at the edg-e of 

 the island held nests on their bare, irreg-- 

 ularlj shaped branches. These nests were 



built at from five to fifteen feet up. They 

 differed from those on the g-round in hav- 

 ing- more larg-e sticks and being- firmer 

 and more compact, and g-enerally smaller 

 in diameter. The nests in the trees were 

 probably built first as they all contained 

 young-. The nests on the g-round were 

 often built to a heig-ht of nine inches and 

 a few were quite a foot hig-h, but the 

 majority were not above five inches and 

 some not three. As a rule the nests 

 were about two feet in diameter, but 

 some were four to six inches larg-er, and 

 many were considerably less. The}^ were 

 all composed of coarse, dead g-rass and 

 rushes, and mixed with twig-s and sticks, 

 some over three feet long-. Some were 

 constructed shiftlessly and a few were 

 very neat affairs of their kind, when just 

 completed. It was evident from 

 examination that the birds when setting- 

 g-enerally occupied the same position, 

 with the head toward the water. In 

 those nests containing- larg-e young- the 

 structures were usually much disarrang^ed 

 and beaten down, and were in some cases 

 pulled to pieces, the squabs sitting- 

 in the ruins. There were probably 200 

 nests containing- eg-g-s or young-, while 



