THE OSPREY. 



77 



man}- held both eg-g-s and young- quite a 

 week old. In some nests could be seen 

 birds which varied in ag"e a week or ten 

 days, and in one case dissimilarity was 

 so g-reat that the larg-er bird was trying- 

 to swallow his diminutive companion. 

 We were informed that when the eg-g-s 

 roll from the nests onto the g-round that 

 there are frequent lig-hts among- the old 

 birds as to rig-ht of possession. This 

 story would seem incorrect when we con- 

 sider that in no nest were there found 

 more than four eg-g-s and young-, for some 

 old birds more pug-nacious would secure 

 more than their share, but still the habit 

 may obtain and the Pelican know full 

 well when the complement of four is at- 

 tained. Anyway the eg-g-s g-et chang-ed 

 about in some unexplained manner and 

 the emerg-ing- of the young- in a nest often 

 varies much in time. 



The young- when first out are without 

 covering- and are toug-h-looking- thing-s; 

 in truth, at no time in its existence can 

 we in any way allude to the Brown Pel- 

 ican as handsome; they are simply curi- 

 ous and ludicrous. When the youngs are a 

 few days old they are covered with down 

 and present a very odd appearance as they 

 attempt to waddle out of one's way; or 

 later when they g-et sassy and sit up 

 straig-ht and hiss at an intruder. Even 

 the young-est birds appeared to take 

 frig-ht at our presence and tried to escape, 

 some leaving the nests and taking- to the 

 sand, where they quickly died from heat 

 or fright, the temperature being- at nearly 

 one hundred deg-rees in the sunshine. 



Dissection of the squabs proved that 

 the old birds fed the very young- with 

 small pieces of fish, which they undoubt- 

 edly partially dig-est and disg-org-e, after 

 the manner of some of the Herons I have 

 studied. As soon as the young-sters are 

 of sufficient size they are fed on full 

 sized fish, and the capacity of a three- 



pounder is surprising-. Some of the 

 larg-er young- were seen sitting bolt up- 

 rig^ht with the tail of a fish sticking- out 

 of the mouth. These larg-er squabs g"en- 

 erally disg-org-e the fish when approached, 

 but some could not manag-e it as the fish, 

 eig-ht or ten inches long-, stuck in the g-ul- 

 let, the spines presenting- the wrong- way; 

 and the unfortunate young- Pelican would 

 strain and wrig-g-le about to relieve itself 

 so as to be able to hiss and intimidate us. 



We secured a couple of hundred fresh 

 eg-g-s which made nice specimens. They 

 are too well known to require description 

 here, but will say for those who have not 

 seen the egg that they are white, with a 

 thick calcareous coating-, and in size are 

 about half way between a hen's and a 

 g-oose's eg-g-. 



On my last trip to the island, several 

 years later, the colony was found to be 

 g-reatly diminished in size, and the nests 

 proportionately fewer, all due to the in- 

 considerate, destructive nature of the 

 tourist. Truly a case of man's inhuman- 

 ity to birds. 



On one of my trips to Florida I stopped at 

 an isolated hotel for tourists, where were 

 domiciled Professor Jenks, of Brown 

 University; Wm. T. Hornaday, the cele- 

 brated taxidermist; Mr. Dexter, who had 

 accompanied Ag-assiz on his Amazonian 

 trip, and several lesser lig-hts; all inter- 

 ested in zoolog-y, and intent on investig-a- 

 tion. They rig-g-ed up a laboratory out- 

 side under the live oaks and palmettoes 

 and prepared Pelican and other bird 

 skins. A half mile away old ocean could 

 be heard booming- on the shore, while the 

 notes of the Robins, Red Birds and early 

 mig-rating- Warblers could be heard all 

 about us. Those were happy days, and 

 long- to be remembered, for what can be 

 more ag-reeable than a company of con- 

 g-enial associates, and in a land of sun- 

 shine? 



The Circling Loon, 



BY K. M. BARNKvS. 



IN the latter part of April, 1889, one 

 warm sunny day, about five o'clock, I 

 could have been found lazily floating- 

 in my boat on the water flooding the bot- 

 toms of the Illinois river, about three 

 miles below Lacon, making a swamp in 

 the neig-hborhood of two miles wide, in- 



terspersed with small opening-s, patches 

 of heavy timber and bunches of willow. 

 I had put in a hard day's collecting, had 

 tied my boat to a small willow and was 

 eating- a lunch. Suddenly my attention 

 was attracted by a very larg-e shadow 

 passing- over the water, and the rush of 



