128 DuTCHER, Report of Committee 07i Bird Protection. L jan 



lent. Prior to June all of the wardens' journeys were made in a 

 row or sailboat which was found to be too slow to be effective. 

 Since that date Mr. Bradley has been using the launch 'Audubon ' 

 which was provided by the Florida Audubon Society. His move- 

 ments now are much more rapid and plume hunters could not 

 escape arrest should any come into his territory. 



In May two members of the American Ornithologists' Union, 

 Messrs. H. K. Job and A. C. Bent, visited this section of Florida 

 to study and photograph birds and while there spent a great deal 

 of time with our warden. At the request of the Chairman they 

 reported on the condition of bird protection work in Monroe 

 County. The report is so interesting and valuable that it is 

 embodied herewith. 



My Dear Mr. Dutcher : — 



In response to your request we will try to briefly describe the conditions 

 as we found them, in southern Florida this spring. Under the guidance of 

 vour wardens, Messrs. Guy M. Bradley and Wm. R. Burton, we visited and 

 inspected during April and May, quite thoroughly, nearly all the principal 

 rookeries in southern Monroe County, from Whitewater Bay and the ever- 

 glades southward to the coast, and on the mangrove keys from Cards 

 Sound to Indian Key and Cape Sable. 



Our first trip, two miles inland to Bear Lake, served to locate a small 

 rookery of Wood Ibises, consisting of about 20 nests, from 12 to 15 feet up 

 in the tops of red mangroves, on a small island. The nests at this time, 

 April 27, all held young birds of \tarious ages. In order to reach this rook- 

 ery Bradley had to carry our canoe on his back for two miles through a 

 thick tangle of mangrove forest, which is enough to discourage the average 

 native nest robber. 



It required three days of hard work to visit the big rookery at Cuthbert 

 Lake, which lies about seven miles inland, nearly on the edge of the ever- 

 glades, and can be reached only by laboriously poling and sculling a small 

 skiff through a chain of six lakes connected by narrow, to'rtuous creeks, 

 overgrown with a thick tangle of red mangroves. The rookery itself is a 

 mangrove island of less than two acres, on which we estimated that there 

 were at least 4000 birds nesting. About one half of the colony were Lou- 

 isiana Herons, of which fully three quarters had young of various ages on 

 May I. The White Ibises of which we estimated that there were about 

 1,000, were just beginning to lay and had from one to three eggs in each 

 nest. There were about 600 Florida Cormorants, about 200 Anhingas, and 

 about 100 Little Blue Herons in the colony, all of which had nests with 

 eggs and with young. We counted 18 American Egrets, and found their 

 nests with eggs, as well as with young of various ages, some of which were 



