BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. 20I 



anythmg, and it was necessary to force food down their tliroats to 

 Iceep them alive ; but after a time they began to eat of their own 

 accord, and after that we had no further trouble with them other- 

 wise than to furnish them with sufficient food, which it was not 

 always easy to do. Upon being approached, they snapped their bills 

 loudly, at the same time uttering a sharp whistling noise. 



Dr. Bryant gives an interesting account of their breeding habits. 

 He says, " I found a few Man-of-War Birds breeding at the Biminis; 

 their nests were placed upon the mangroves, amidst those of the 

 Brown Pelican and Florida Cormorant. As these birds are much 

 disturbed by the inhabitants, their breeding-places will probably be 

 given up in a few years. On the central and highest part of Booby 

 Key, a colony of about two hundred pairs was breeding. The nests 

 here were on the bare rock, and closely grouped together, the whole 

 not occupying a space more than forty feet square. There were 

 no Boobies amongst them, though thousands were breeding on the 

 ,key. The largest breeding-place visited by me is situated on Seal 

 Island, one of the Ragged Island keys, and is five or six acres in 

 e.xtent. The nests, thickly crowded together, were placed on the 

 tops of prickly-pear, which covered the ground with an almost 

 imi3enetrable tiiicket. On the Sth of April the young were hatched 

 in half of the nests, the largest about one third grown ; the other 

 nests contained eggs more or less hatched. Out of many hundreds, 

 I procured only seven that were freshly laid. 



" I have visited the breeding-places of many sea birds before, and 

 some well worth the trouble, but none so interesting to me as this. 

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