76 WILD WINGS 



these colonies of helpless water-birds. Though I did not actu- 

 ally see the buzzards looting the nests, I am sure that these 

 solemn-looking, red-faced fellows do not hang around the 

 rookery for any benevolent purpose. Yet their ravages are 

 not as open and unblushing as those of their smaller com- 

 panions. The Fish Crows are nothing if not audacious 

 thieves. A band of them was always prowling about our 

 camp to appropriate whatever they could. When we pulled 

 across to the rookery in the morning, they would descend 

 and eat up all leavings, and then, by the time we were reach- 

 ing the island, the black band would come straggling after 

 us, following up closely as we landed. It was inevitable that 

 some of the birds would be startled from their eggs, and 

 this gave the rascals their opportunity. The audacity with 

 which one would alight over our heads in the nest of a heron 

 or ibis and proceed to break and suck the eggs was simply 

 maddening, as there was no way to prevent it. Now and 

 then we would see one fly off with an egg impaled on its bill. 

 The warden thought it would be a good thing for him to 

 carry a small plume-hunter's rifle on purpose to kill crows 

 and stop their ravages. 



When I was photographing the young cormorants, one of 

 these Fish Crows kept hovering close around me, with an 

 evident desire to get at the young. I had no lead with which 

 to perforate his hide, but I shot him with a photographic 

 plate and got his likeness, perfect to his very claws. 



One of the minor, yet very interesting exhibits in this re- 

 markable aviary of Nature was a party of six of the rare and 

 little-known Everglade Kite, probably a family group, which 

 I saw one evening soaring over the island. Very few natural- 

 ists have ever seen this bird. It quite closely resembles the 

 Marsh Hawk in form and general habits, and, like the young 

 of that species, is dark in coloration. The southern edge of 



