CITIES OF THE BROWN PELICANS 9 



street traffic in this pelican city. The citizens all dress well, 

 and look remarkably neat in this favored social order where 

 poverty is unknown, and where there are no strikes or other 

 signs of discontent. But let not the visitor hope to vie with 

 the pelicans in neatness of apparel and apparent cleanliness. 

 The passing birds are continually dropping a watery excre- 

 ment which, though it does not seem to stick upon the oily 

 plumage of the pelicans, certainly does not allow the gar- 

 ments of human visitors to remain immaculate. The ground, 

 too, is very dirty, infested by swarms of insects, and in a short 

 time our clothing and cameras were well besmeared. 



Naturally we were interested to make an estimate of the 

 population of Pelican Island. As nearly as we could count, 

 there were four hundred and fifty nests at the east end, five 

 hundred and twelve at the southwest, and fourteen at the 

 northwest, making nine hundred and seventy-six in all. This 

 means nineteen hundred and fifty - two adult birds. The 

 most common number of the eggs in a nest was three, but 

 often only two. In only one nest did we find four, and in 

 one other five. Assuming that each pair raises two young, 

 a colony ought to double every season, if they were not 

 disturbed. On the adjacent islands there were evidently over 

 two hundred nests, though we did not land. Assuming, then, 

 that there were twelve hundred nests in all, the adult popu- 

 lation of the whole colony can be placed at twenty-four 

 hundred. 



Mr. F. M. Chapman has recorded that on a visit to this 

 island, in 1898, he counted eight hundred and forty-five nests, 

 and noticed a very few on an adjacent island. Assuming that 

 there were then nine hundred nests in all, it is evident that 

 the colony had increased about one third in four years. This 

 desirable result may be due to the better enforcement of strict 

 laws in Florida against the destruction of plume-bearing 



