394 Nelson, Notes on Pelican Island. |_Oct. 



by a violent hurricane; the river rose and completely submerged 

 the island, driving the young to the more elevated islands near 

 by. The reason for this high water may be attributed to the shape 

 and character of the Indian River. For many miles north of 

 Pelican Island the Indian River is a mile or more in width, while 

 a few miles south the width is but a few hundred yards. When 

 the wind is strong from the north for a continued period the water 

 is blown down the shallow river, and, as so great a body of water 

 cannot pass though the "narrows" quickly enough, the river 

 rises for miles above. For more than three weeks after this hurri- 

 cane Pelican Island was flooded, and it was during this period that 

 the Pelicans arrived for a new nesting season. Their old home 

 having disappeared, they finally began building on one of the larger 

 islands situated about 400 yards southeast of the old island, while 

 about a dozen nests were built on two small islets near by. They 

 were evidently very well satisfied with their new sites, for, although 

 the lowering water soon restored their former island to its normal 

 size, not a single nest was built on it during the entire season. 



The new island is peculiarly adapted to the welfare of the Peli- 

 cans. It is much larger than the old island, having an area of 

 fully twenty acres, about one half of which is densely wooded 

 with large black mangroves. There are a few small patches of red 

 mangroves near the water. The wooded section is mainly located 

 on the northern and western parts, thereby forming very effectual 

 protection to the majority of birds from the cold "northers." 

 The shape of the island can, with a little imagination, be likened 

 to a pelican at rest, with its head lowered to its shoulders. 



Although Brown Pelicans originally preferred arboreal nesting 

 sites, and conditions on the new island seemed favorable for such 

 sites, less than one sixth of the five thousand nests were placed in 

 the trees. This small percentage of tree nests leads us to infer 

 that ground sites are now preferable to arboreal ones. It is so 

 many years since the majority of the birds could have nested in 

 trees, that there can be very few of the present generation that 

 have nested, or were raised in trees; and it is quite probable that 

 those who did so the past season had some previous experience. 



On the new island I had many opportunities to contrast the 

 advantages of the terrestrial with the disadvantages of the arboreal 

 nesting sites. 



