BIRD KEY 



83 



cormorants was about to close. The young, with the ex- 

 ception of two or three dozen, were able to fly, and when 

 frightened would quit the trees with their parents and fly 

 out into the bay. 



The trees and bushes of the other end of the bird town 

 furnished accommodations for the nests of several hun- 

 dred brown pelicans. Here, too, we found the season 

 nearly at an end. 

 Three or four large 

 groups of pelicans, 

 swimming a hundred 

 yards or more from 

 shore, were made up 

 largely of those young 

 which were old enough 

 to leave the trees and 



fly out into the water. At this age the heads of the birds do 

 not have the yellow and brown feathers of the adults, but 

 have a uniform coat of gray. Other young ones were lying 

 on their nests, or, if sufficiently strong, were standing or 

 climbing about on the limbs near by. A few of the nests 

 contained large, chalky white eggs. Of the ten nests ex- 

 amined, one held one, five held two, and four held three 

 eggs each. 



Young pelicans are vicious creatures. Those strong 



