WILD WINGS 
76 
these colonies of helpless water-birds. Though I did not actu¬ 
ally see the buzzards looting the nests, I am sure that these 
solemn-looking, red-faced fellows do not hang around the 
rookery for any l)enevolent purpose. Yet their ravages are 
not as open and unblushing as those of their smaller com¬ 
panions. The Fish Crows are nothing if not audacious 
thieves. A l)and of them was always prowling about our 
camp to approj^riate whatever they could. When we pulled 
across to the rookery in the morning, they would descend 
and eat up all leavings, and then, by the time we were reach¬ 
ing the island, the black band would come straggling after 
us, following up closely as we landed. It was inevitable that 
some of the birds would be startled from their eggs, and 
this gave the rascals their opportunity. The audacity with 
which one would alight over our heads in the nest of a heron 
or ibis and proceed to break and suck the eggs was simply 
maddening, as there was no way to prevent it. Now and 
then we would see one fly oft with an egg impaled on its bill. 
The warden thought it would be a good thing for him to 
carry a small plume-hunter’s rifle on purpose to kill crows 
and stop their ravages. 
W’hen I was photographing the young cormorants, one of 
these Fish Crows kept hovering close around me, with an 
evident desire to get at the young. I had no lead with which 
to perforate his hide, but I shot him with a photographic 
plate and got his likeness, perfect to his very claws. 
One of the minor, yet very interesting exhibits in this re¬ 
markable aviary of Nature was a party of six of the rare and 
little-known Everglade Kite, probably a family group, which 
I saw one evening soaring over the island. Very few natural¬ 
ists have ever seen this bird. It quite closely resembles the 
Marsh Hawk in form and general habits, and, like the young 
of that species, is dark in coloration. The southern edge of 
