PELICAN ISLAND 



99 



able climatic conditions, had, as has been remarked, resulted 

 in both an early and uniform advance in the development of 

 the breeding season. Not more than thirty birds were still 

 incubating while at least ninety-nine per cent of the young 

 were on the wing and were approximately the same age. 



A cold spell late in February had resulted in the death 

 of at least five hundred birds just as they were acquiring the 



" Extend their feeding excursions into the throat of the 

 patient parent " 



power of flight, but between a thousand and twelve hundred 

 remained. 



As we landed on the island these young, with the adults, 

 took flight and I anticipated little success in securing photo- 

 graphic studies of birds, which, unlike those confined to the 

 nest, appeared to have no fixed place of abode. Observations 

 from a blind, showed, however, that these birds evidently 

 did have certain definite places, doubtless in the vicinity of 



