iSSS.] Scott, Birds of the Gulf Coast of Florida. 3^^ 



These results have been brought about by the persecutions of plume 

 hunters, for there had been great demand for the Terns for hats, and by 

 the depredations of egg hunters from Manatee, who find this a point from 

 which in years gone by they have been able to supply the markets of the 

 towns near by with eggs for food. 



The only Gulls that were noted on this expedition were a few Laughing 

 Gulls. 



These breeding grounds are all easily accessible from Point PinuUas 

 and Prof. H. A. Smeltz, a resident till recently of that locality, assures me 

 that he has known the plume hunters of that region to ship to the New 

 York dealers sez»e« ^«rre/5 of plumes and flat skins in a single week during 

 the breeding season of the Herons, Gulls, and Terns ; and I know person- 

 ally of a contract made by a New York house with two men of that local- 

 ity for 30,000 Terns' skins to be delivered during a single season. 



The methods of the o.^^ hunters are of too great interest to be passed 

 over. The beaches where Terns' and Gulls' eggs were laid in great quan- 

 tities, were carefully scraped with boards used as brushes. All the fresh 

 eggs were selected after being swept into the water and those that had 

 been incubated allowed to drift away with the tide. But the work was 

 really done so that the egg robber might the next day get all the eggs 

 that had been laid in the interval. 



Anhinga anhinga. Anhinga. — A common resident, breeding from late 

 in March till the middle of July in the vicinity of Tarpon Springs. The 

 breeding season is, however, at its height in this locality about the last 

 week in April. The birds do not seem so gregarious at this or other sea- 

 sons of the year as do the Cormorants, and it is unusual to find more than 

 a dozen pairs at a 'rookery,' from two to four pairs being the ordinary con- 

 tingent. Almost every fresh water pond has its pair or more, and on the 

 larger lakes and streams they are plentiful. I have yet to find the species 

 breeding in a salt water rookery, or to see one in the pure salt water of the 

 Gulf, though they are occasional on the brackish bayous that connect 

 with the Gulf. 



Phalacrocorax dilophus floridanus. Florida Cormorant. — An abun- 

 dant and conspicuous species at all seasons near the coast and on the 

 larger sheets of fresh water. Breeds in great colonies at suitable points 

 near both fresh and salt water, beginning to lay in the vicinity of Tarpon 

 Springs late in March and early in April. Generally two or three eggs 

 are laid, and two broods are reared. 



Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. American White Pelican. — Though 

 observed in flocks of varying size throughout the year in the vicinity of 

 salt water, I have no records of the species breeding at any point visited. 

 The breeding, if it occurs in the region in question, seems unknown to 

 any of the native hunters I have talked to. 



Pelecanus fuscus. Brown Pelican. — A common resident at most 

 points on the Gulf, and breeds in colonies, generally of great size, on the 

 mangrove islands in April, May, and June, according to the many notes 

 accumulated. 



