﻿50 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 74 



well as the shallow flats were being repeopled by plants and animals. 

 It will be interesting to note what, if any, change in the flora or fauna 

 may ensue ; that is, to what extent an additional West Indian element 

 may be injected into the lower Florida reaches. The partial stamp- 

 ing out of the old fauna without serious physiographic or oceano- 

 graphic changes in the region as far as physical features are apparently 

 concerned is a rather interesting phenomenon and the re-establish- 

 ment of a new flora and fauna will be ecjually noteworthy. 



As heretofore, careful notes on the birds observed on the various 

 keys visited were kept. One of the remarkable things resulting from 

 the use of the seaplane was the finding of several colonies of the 

 great white heron (Ardca occidcntalis) which in previous years had 

 been found breeding singly in the mangrove bushes. Two colonies 

 of at least fifty each were found and several other colonies of lesser 

 number. A photograph of a young of this year is shown in figure 47. 



During Dr. Bartsch's stay at the Tortugas, the Navy Department, 

 at the request of the U. S. Biological Survey, moved the warden's 

 house on Bird Key. This necessitated the removal of a large number 

 of eggs of the breeding terns which were on the point of hatching. 

 Dr. Bartsch staked out the place to be invaded and removed all these 

 egg<., giving the terns breeding in the area adjacent to the marked 

 place each an additional egg, which all the birds accepted without 

 protest. In this way, 2,420 foster parents were established and it is 

 hoped many young sooty terns saved. Of the nests destroyed, only 

 eight contained two eggs. All the others had one only. Figure 48 

 shows a photograph taken of Bird Key from the seaplane, by 

 Dr. Bartsch, and figure 49 shows the old and new location of the 

 warden's house. 



There were but seven nests of the noddy tern in this region. The 

 noddy tern on Bird Key is disappearing rapidly. Dr. Bartsch does 

 not believe that there are 800 birds there at the present time. This 

 is largely due to the fact that the vegetation was destroyed almost 

 wholly by a hurricane a few years ago, and no serious efforts have 

 been made to replace it. Unless some relief is found in this matter, 

 both the sooty and noddy will undoubtedly become decidedly dimin- 

 ished in numbers because the young birds will not find the shade 

 essential to their protection. It is again suggested, as heretofore, that 

 a row of Australian pines and coconut trees be planted all around 

 Bird Key, preferably alternately, and that the pines be kept topped so 

 that they will become bushy and furnish a nesting site for the noddies. 

 These trees grow very rapidly and should, in a very little while, fur- 

 nish adequate home sites for the noddy tern. At the present time 



