14 WILD WINGS 



Over in the eastern colony a pelican that had a nest at the 

 foot of a stub returned readily to her eggs, though I had 

 placed the large camera on the sand, without concealment, 

 but little over a yard away. She would waddle past the 

 camera up on to her nest, settle down, draw in her chin in 

 the most dignified attitude, and seem to say, "I 'm all ready 

 now ; pull ! " I also set the camera on the tripod in the 

 open near some nests on a mangrove, and pulled the thread 

 when some of the old birds alighted on the empty nests, 

 near the large youngsters. Another successful method was 

 to drive a company of the well-grown young down to the 

 shore, where I could get within ten feet of them and secure 

 snap-shots. 



We stayed on the island until half-past four, and were 

 careful not to remain close to any nest for more than a few 

 rrioments at a time, so as not to keep the birds away. Naked, 

 newly hatched young birds of any kind will soon die in the 

 sun, if not brooded, and visitors to the bird colonies will do 

 well to remember this, or they may do tremendous damage. 

 In this case the pelicans were so tame that no harm was done 

 by our stay on the island, with the exercise of a little care, for 

 the birds did not mind our presence at all, as long as we kept 

 thirty feet or more from the nesting area. 



At one o'clock the proposal was made to have dinner. The 

 rest ate without me, for I told them it seemed little short of 

 sacrilege to lose a single moment of those brief, precious, 

 golden hours in the wonder-land for such a sordid thing as 

 eating, that one could do a.t any other time. So I fasted, and 

 worked until we sailed away. 



During the day the wind had steadily increased, and all 

 the afternoon had been blowing a gale down the river. We 

 waited in vain for it to veer to southeast, as it usually does 

 by night, and at length had to start on our long, hard beat to 



