86 FLORIDA BIRD-LIFE 



great variability in the time of laying and development of 

 the young, so that during March and April one may see at a 

 glance every phase of the birds ' home-life from the egg to 

 the bird on the wing, and in part to the growing tameness of 

 the birds, which by the exercise of a little caution, one may 

 observe under terms of exceptional intimacy. 



But this bird colony is not only the most interesting in 

 my experience, it is also the most accessible. Here one has 

 to encounter no dangers of sea or cliff, no flood and desola- 

 tion of Bahaman * ' swash, ' ' no mosquitoes and moccasins of 

 noisome marsh. On the contrary a trip to Pelican Island is 

 as delightful an outing as one may have in Florida. A ' ' Pull- 

 man ' ' brings one to any of the scores of resorts on the east 

 coast water ways. One has then only to secure the needed 

 permit from Warden Kroegel at Sebastian, when all the rest 

 is plain sailing or motoring, as the case may be. Thanks, 

 therefore, to the efforts of bird students, seconded by a sym- 

 pathetic administration, Pelican Island should long continue 

 to delight visiting nature-lovers as well as to supply our 

 south Atlantic coast with a singularly interesting form of 

 life. 



THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS 



The records of AVarden Kroegel show that, as a rule, Pel- 

 icans, in flocks of from 500 to 1,000 arrive, apparently at 

 night, in the vicinity of Pelican Island about November ] . 

 At first they stay on the river, their numbers rapidly 

 increasing, and during this time they sail for hours over the 

 island, possibly engaged in mating evolutions. The clans 

 having gathered, at the end of the week the birds in a body 

 take to the island. Nest-building is begun at once, and the 

 first eggs are laid by December 1. 



The season of 1907-08 was exceptional. The birds ar- 

 rived earlier than usual ; and the first eggs were laid Novem- 

 ber 5. Warden Kroegel estimates that when they first came 

 there were fully 7,000 birds ; but this number soon decreased 



