17 



Plntalea ojaja. Tlie Roseate Si)Oonbill breeds in such num- 

 bers at Indian River that 1 have known one person to kill sixty 

 in a day. The wing feathers are used for making fans, and sell 

 at St. Augustine at from $1.00 to $1.50 for those of a single bird. 

 They commence laying at Pelican Island by the middle of Feb- 

 ruary, and the young are nearly fledged by the 1st of April. On 

 the 10th of April I found one nest containing an egg ; all the rest 

 ■were either empty or the young on the point of leaving them. 

 The egg differs from Audubon's description ; it measures 65 mil- 

 limetres in length, by 39 in breadth, is of an elongated oval form, 

 the difference between the two ends strongly marked. The 

 ground color is white, sprinkled all over with bright rufous spots 

 of different sizes, forming a ring near the large end. 



Ardea occidentalis. I found all the herons that are to be met 

 with on the Atlantic coast, with the exception of the A. ccerulea^ 

 breeding among the keys or along the shore of the mainland ; all 

 of them on the salt water with the exception of the great Egret, 

 and this species I found in only tw^o places, — on the head waters 

 of the St. Sebastian, breeding in company with the Wood Ibis, 

 and on a small island in Lake Jessup, without any other birds. 

 Their attachment to their breeding-places was strikingly shown 

 at this last-mentioned place. About a month before my visit to the 

 island, a dense tangled growth of coarse marsh-grasses and bushes, 

 with which it was covered, had been accidentally set fire to, and 

 many of the birds and the majority of the nests destroyed ; but at 

 the time of my visit these had been rebuilt, and the birds were 

 again sitting on their eggs. In the few nests which had not been 

 destroyed, and which in most instances were blackened by the 

 fire, the young were already hatched and nearly half grown. 

 The Great White Heron I found breeding on many of the keys. 

 Two nests were rarely seen near each other, and only in one 

 instance did I find two nests within twenty feet of one another. 

 They did not, however, seem to object to the company of other 

 species. I found one on the same bush with a nest of the 

 Great Blue Heron ; and at Sandy Key, near Cape Sable, I found 

 several pairs breeding on the prickly pears which Avere growing 

 amidst trees covered with the nests of the beautiful Louisiana 

 Heron. I never saw more than five or six individuals feeding 

 near each other, and I should think it was as much more solitary 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. VOL. VIT. 2 APRIL 1859. 



