20 



immense numbers of Man-of-War Birds and "White Ibises were 

 congregated upon the island, and probably bred there at a later 

 period than my visit. North of Cape Canaveral the mangroves 

 being destroyed, they place their nests upon the ground as in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. On one island that I visited, the nests were 

 arranged either accidentally or intentionally in rows. They do 

 not seem inclined to relinquish their habitation very readily. 

 Opposite Dunlawton, a plantation at New Smyrna, is an island 

 where they must have been disturbed for many years, but at the 

 period of my visit they were engaged in arranging their nests, 

 which covered the greater part of the island. The process of 

 laying must be attended with more difficulty in the Pelican than 

 in other birds, if we can judge from the fact that the eggs are 

 always more or less marked with blood. I have seen hundreds 

 of the fresh eggs, and have never found one free from this pecu- 

 liarity. Audubon, in his description, alludes to this as " a few 

 faint streaks of a rosy tint." The eggs are as undesirable an 

 article of food as the birds themselves. On one occasion, having 

 been on short allowance for a day, I endeavored, in company 

 with some of the officers then stationed at Fort Capron, to make 

 a meal of them, but, after a few mouthfuls, we decided unani- 

 mously that it was better to go hungry a little longer. Three eggs 

 selected from a large number gave the following measurements, — 

 one, 72 millimetres in length, by 43 in breadth ; another, 75X47, 

 and a third, 63X45, the second being about typical as to propor- 

 tions, but rather larjifer than the averasre. 



Sula fusca. These birds were quite numerous at the Tortu- 

 gas, but I did not find any breeding there. I was told by the 

 keeper of the light, who had been familiar with the locality for 

 eighteen years, that he had occasionally found an egg on 

 Northeast Key, a mere sand-bank, which he presumed had been 

 dropped without the bird intending to hatch it, but that he had 

 never seen or heard of a nest on a tree. I inquired of all the fish- 

 ermen and wreckers, but could find no one who had ever seen any 

 breeding at the Tortugas. If Audubon's description were not so 

 detailed, I should think he had seen them perched on the Pelican 

 nests, where they seem to be quite at home, and taken them for 

 the real owners. 



Sterna Cayana. On the 8th of Ma^ I yisited Northeast 



