396 Nelson, Notes on Pelican Island. [o^. 



landed on the northwestern end. None of the young here that 

 were able to fly would allow of close approach but would usually 

 disgorge three or four fish and thus lightened take to flight. At 

 times we could hear the spattering noise of falling fish before we 

 got to the trees the birds were leaving. All the fish examined 

 proved to be Menhaden (Brcvoortia tyrannus) about eight inches 

 in length. There is a large treeless space of perhaps two acres, 

 in the centre of the island, so thickly overgrown with "sea parsley" 

 (Scsiwium) that it was with some difficulty we made our way over 

 it. Overhead the birds were flying with great speed in large 

 circles. This is the alarm flight of the Pelicans, and can be seen 

 for more than a mile. It is one of the warden's most reliable signs 

 that the pelicans have unwelcome visitors. There were isolated 

 nests in some of the trees in the interior, most of them unoccupied. 



During this trip we flushed a Clapper Rail, a Yellow-crowned 

 Night Heron, and a Yellow-throat {Geothlypis). These, with a 

 pair of Great Blue Herons, the Pelicans, and the ever present 

 Buzzards were the only birds we saw in the interior. Almost 

 daily, during March, from fifty to two hundred Florida Cormorants 

 were seen around the island, also large numbers of Lesser Scaup 

 Ducks, a few Little Blue and Louisiana Herons, Fish Hawks and 

 Kingfishers. Should the Pelicans continue in the future to breed 

 on this island, some of the Herons, Egrets and White Ibises will 

 probably colonize with them, as they did many years ago, when 

 there were trees on the old island. 



To the nature photographer Pelican Island is peculiarly inter- 

 esting, for almost any day during the first five months of the year, 

 one can find all possible stages of Pelican life, from nest building 

 to the full grown young bird. The use of a "blind," or place of 

 concealment is neither necessary nor advisable on Pelican Island. 

 In erecting a blind, one of course has to flush the sitting birds, 

 which leave with a great rush, and in many cases, eggs and small 

 young are thrown out of their nests. Then, if the sun is shining, 

 its burning rays would shortly bring about fatal results, as the 

 naked young are naturally seldom wholly exposed to the sun 

 for only a very brief period. I had no trouble in walking very 

 slowly, though with many pauses, to within twenty feet of a 

 colony of birds with newly hatched young. Here I slowly set up 



