The Oologist. 



VOL. XI. NO. 3. 



ALBION, N. Y., MARCH, 1894. 



Whole No. 101 



Nesting Habits of the Brown Pelican in 

 Florida. 



It has been a question with me for 

 some years whether many birds were 

 not eiemies to man by reason of their 

 destruction of certain animals and veg- 

 etables upon which man depends. I 

 am aware that the point is now almost 

 universally taken that in the economy 

 of nature all creatures are required to 

 maintain a proper balance. In that ex- 

 cellent book on the Hawks and Owls 

 by Dr. Fisher, it is quite conclusively 

 shown that the large majority of our 

 rapacious birds ai'e beneficial to man 

 while there are but very few about 

 which there still remains any doubt. 



However, although the investigations 

 of scientists have demonstrated that 

 nearly all birds in the United States are 

 man's assistants, it has not as yet been 

 proven to observers that many of the 

 tish-eating species are beneticial. 



Let us take the Brown Pelican as an 

 example and strike a balance in refer- 

 ence to its vast destructive powers up- 

 on the tishes, wherever it is found. 

 This bird is provided with marvelous 

 digestive powers and is capable of swal- 

 lowing a great many fish in a year. 



We will suppose that an adult Peli- 

 can will swallow, or at least destroy 

 sixteen fish a day, each weighing four 

 ounces (a low average); we lind that 

 the allowance reaches one thousand, 

 four hundred and sixty pouncifs of fish 

 per year for a single individual , One 

 colony of Pelicans embracing /5,000 

 birds would require over 3,600 tons of 

 fish or way over 7,000,000 pounds, which, 

 supposing that the same amount could 

 be marketed at five cents a pound would 

 amount to $350,000. 



These figures, which I doubt not are 

 :,tDost reasonable, are truly remarkable, 



and when we consider that there are 

 hundreds of these colonies, a few being 

 much larger, but mostly smaller, in the 

 Union alone, the calculation is truly 

 terrific. 



On principle it might be well to kill 

 off these birds which feed almost ex- 

 clusively on our food-fishes, but we 

 might with equal propriety advocate 

 the destruction of the Fish Hawk, King- 

 fisher and many species of Gulls and 

 Herons and others well kno\^n. 



The Brown Pelican is not commonly 

 seen north of 35 degrees on the Atlan- 

 tic coast, and in most localities form- 

 erly occupied north of 30 degrees, the 

 birds are now quite scarce, but isolated 

 rookeries are found south of 28 de- 

 grees, sonre of which ai'e quite extensive 

 on the eastern coast of Florida. On 

 the gulf coast the nests are also foimd, 

 sometimes in large rookeries. 



Not far from Galveston, Texas there 

 was a factory for the rendering of Peli- 

 can oil from the bodies of the birds tak- 

 en near at a celebrated place of resort. 

 This oil factory was allowed to run un- 

 molested by the state for several years ' 

 and only shut down when the supply of 

 birds ran out and the few I'emaining 

 birds unbutchered left for other quar- 

 ters. 



On one occasion I visited the nesting 

 place and general resort of a large col- 

 ony of Pelicans on Indian River, Flor- 

 ida. Indian River, so-called is not a 

 stream in any sense of the term but a 

 salt-water lagoon. Separated from the 

 Atlantic ocean by a long, low, narrow 



THE FRONTISPIECE:— The plCUire or view 

 shows a group of Pelican nests; some with 

 eggs others with l)ird« of different sizes One 

 large one which is in the downy plumage is 

 seen hissing at the tough looking crowd of 

 shooters who stand on the shore of the island. 

 In the background is seen the so-called Indian 

 River which is covered wiuh Pelicans Ijyt 

 which the camera failed to show. 



