CITIES OF THE BROWN PELICANS 5 
them. Then we stood up and shouted, but hardly a bird rose. 
There they sat upon their nests, hundreds and hundreds of 
them, many within forty or fifty feet, solemnly gazing at us. 
It was not until we sprang out upon the shore that there 
was any considerable flight, and even then we noticed that it 
“it was not until we sprang out upon the shore that there was 
ANY considerable FLIGHT ” 
occurred only within a radius of fifty or sixty feet, the rest of 
the colony remaining on their nests apparently in perfect 
unconcern. We also noticed with delight, as we went back to 
the boat for more plates, that the fl^dng birds, after a short 
circle out over the water, came right back and settled upon 
their nests. The fear that it would be next to impossible to 
secure pictures at close range was proven groundless. 
Equipped with all necessary photographic implements, we 
now started out for a thorough tour of inspection. A great 
area of nests lay before us, a few of them built on the spread¬ 
ing limbs or tops of the mangrove bushes, but the great 
majority were on the sand, usually about a yard apart. Those 
