BOOBY AND MAN-O'-WAR BIRD 



213 



of which, with their young near my feet, did not fly when 

 the gun was discharged. 



In spite of the apparent sociability expressed by their 

 communal habits, the Boobies immediately resented the 

 trespass on their home site by one of their own kind. Where 

 the nature of the ground permitted, their nests were placed 



Booby and Nest 



with more or less regularity six to eight feet from one an- 

 other. As long as a bird remained within its own domain, 

 having a diameter of approximately six to eight feet, it was 

 not molested ; but let it or its young advance beyond these 

 limits and they were promptly attacked. 



So closely, however, are the birds confined to their own lit- 

 tle areas that difficulties of this kind are rare and under nor- 

 mal conditions peace reigns in the rookery. But when, as we 

 walked through the rookery, the birds in escaping from the 

 larger evil forgot the lesser one and inadvertently backed 

 on to a neighbor 's territory, the unusual cause of the tres 

 pass was not accepted as an excuse and they found the "fry- 



