196 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



from the vicinity of their nests ; or, by frightening 

 the brooding birds, they expose the newly hatched 

 and naked nestlings to the roasting rays of the sun. 

 The harm caused by these visitors, however, is not 

 to be compared to that wrought by so-called 

 " sportsmen/' who, in defiance of every law of man- 

 hood, have gone to Pelican Island and killed thou- 

 sands of the birds simply because they afforded a 

 ready mark for their guns. They had not even the 

 excuse of a demand upon their skill, and must 

 indeed have been very near the level of the brute 

 to have found pleasure in killing birds which the 

 merest novice with a gun would find it difficult to 

 miss. 



Perhaps even worse than this exhibition of pure 

 savagery are the raids of the self-styled " oologists," 

 who, in the name of science save the mark ! have 

 journeyed to Pelican Island with the express pur- 

 pose of taking every egg they could lay their insa- 

 tiable fingers upon, afterward to boast, in some 

 journal devoted to reporting similar crimes, of the 

 hundreds they had collected in so many hours. 



So persistently have the Pelicans been molested 

 that at times they have been forced to desert their 

 beloved island; but they have exhibited their at- 

 tachment for it by establishing themselves on the 

 nearest available islet, and on the first opportunity 

 have returned to their native land. 



It was in March, 1898, that my best assistant and 

 I boarded the little sloop which was to take us to 

 Pelican Island. Fortunately the birds were now in 

 possession of their ancestral domain, and, as we 

 approached, files of Pelicans were seen returning 



