Srorr on the Bird Rookeries oj. Southern Florida. 2 21 



night. Among the latter were many Reddish Egrets, a few of 

 which w r ere in the white phase, and all of the common Herons 

 and Egrets in small numbers. 



Monday, May 17. Obtained a number of Man-'o-war Birds as 

 they flew by our anchorage, the weather being stormy. The day 

 was about consumed in making them into skins. All of these 

 birds were moulting and some of them I took to be young of 

 that year. 



Tuesday, May iS. Spent about as yesterday, save that I was 

 all the afternoon at the rookery, where the birds seem to have 

 increased in numbers, especially at roosting times, and I think 

 that some other breeding place, not very remote, having been 

 attacked by the plume hunters, numbers of the birds have been 

 driven off and have escaped to this point. 



Wednesday, May 19. Packed up all the birds collected at this 

 and other points, all having been unpacked to dry, and started in 

 in the afternoon for Pun ta Rossa, some six miles distant. I have 

 omitted to state that our camp for the past few days had been 

 on the north point at the mouth of the Caloosahatchie River and 

 at least a mile away from the rookery. Arriving at Punta Rossa 

 at about four o'clock, I soon made the acquaintance of Mr. J. W. 

 Atkins, the assistant telegraph operator at this point, the cable 

 for Key West and Cuba having its starting point at Punta Rossa. 

 Mr. Atkins is much interested in birds, and has a good col- 

 lection of skins made in the main just about Punta Rossa. 



His collection embraces most of the commoner species of small 

 birds that occur in the vicinity, and I noticed such rare birds as 

 Cape May Warblers, and a single Mangrove Cuckoo, taken at 

 Punta Rossa. Here we obtained the Doidroica discolor de- 

 scribed at length in 'The Auk' for April, 1SS7 (p. 134). 



Thursday, May 20. We waited for the mail to arrive and 

 about 10 A. M. started again on our cruise, this time going to the 

 east of Pine Island, and kept a northerly course ; for, wishing to 

 look over some of the ground in more detail on the way back, I 

 had determined to go no further soutb. At Punta Rossa to-day 

 I again met Mr. Abe Wilkerson, who had just returned from his 

 trip to the Myakka Lakes, where he did not meet with much 

 success, for though he found large rookeries, the birds had been 

 so persistently hunted they had become very wild. He had 

 about seventy-five 'plumes,' I believe, as the result of the trip, 



