Sept. 1887.] 



ANT> OOLOGIST. 



143 



Notes on a Few of the Birds Ob- 

 served in Brevard Co., Florida. 



BY TIIOS. II. JACKSON, WEST CHESTER, PA. 



Duriiii^ :i visit to Florida, in Murcli of the 

 present j^ear, I was so foitunate as to meet 

 with the Florida Jay, (Aphelocoma floridana) in 

 its native haunts. Between Enterprise on Lake 

 Monroe, and Titksville on the Indian Kiver. in 

 Brevard County, there are extensive tracts of 

 rather elevated ground. These, in many places, 

 are covered by a dense growth of "scrub oaks,*' 

 so thick and tangled that it is with great diffi- 

 culty you can force your way through. 



In su(^h places the Florida Jay, or "■ Scrub 

 Jay" as the natives call him, makes his home. 

 My first sight of this beautiful bird was on the 

 road near Titlf^feville. A fine male of this spe- 

 cies flew into a bush by the roadside within ten 

 feet of our wagon, and remained for some time 

 without showing any alarm at our presence. 

 Having no gun along, I could only admire him 

 at a distance, but next morning early I was on 

 hand to secure my prize. After an hour's 

 waiting a female flew from the thicket near by 

 into an orange tree across the road, and was 

 easily brought down at short range. I saw no 

 moi-e of them on that day, but the day follow- 

 ing visited another tract of scrub oak and se- 

 cured two handsome males. They were very 

 numerous there, and within a short distance I 

 observed at least twenty. They were quite un- 

 suspicious, and at the discharge of a gun those 

 that were near would move but a short dis- 

 tance. Evidently they had not commenced 

 nesting and did not seem paired. I searched 

 long and carefully for their nests, and though 

 the birds would often remain near me, or fol- 

 low me around closely, uttering their peculiar 

 cries, I found nothing but old nests. These 

 were quite numerous, and I supposed them to 

 be the nest of this species of last year. But 

 this was only conjecture. They were generally 

 some three to six feet from the ground and 

 composed of coarse twigs — similar to nests ot 

 the Blue Jay, (Ct/anocitta cristata). A set of 

 four eggs of this species taken near Enterprise, 

 Fla., several years since, may be described as 

 follows : Ground color of a rich light green, 

 sprinkled with markings of a reddish brown, 

 which in some places almost hide the ground 

 color. They are not unlike some specimens of 

 eggs of the Mockingbird, though difteiing in 

 size and shape. They measure 1.18x.82, 1.10 

 X ,82, 1.08 X .81 and 1.12 x .79. 



The Bald Eagle, (Ilulkeetus leucocephalus) is 

 an abundant resident of this countj', and in- 

 deed they seemed more numerous than any 

 otlier of the Eaptores, excepting the Sparrow 

 Hawk (T. sparverius), which is everywhere 

 abundant. Three nests of the Bald Eagle 

 came under my notice while there. They were 

 all placed in medium sized pine trees, none be- 

 ing over fifty feet from the ground. From two 

 of them the young had recently flown and the 

 third contained a full fledged Eaglet. 



Procuring the assistance of a " Cracker " I 

 had this tree cut down. The young bird did 

 not try to save itself by flight, but fell with the 

 tree and was killed. It was of a uniform dark 

 brown color all over, and appeared to be larger 

 than the parent birds. These circled around 

 us at a safe distance, notwithstanding tlie pre- 

 diction of our " Cracker " friend that it would 

 be dangerous to disturb the nest. 



The nest as it lay on the ground presented a 

 mass of debris^ large enough to fill a good- 

 sized cart. Sticks of various sizes formed the 

 bulk of the structure, while occasional pieces 

 of sod. bunches of grass, bones and feathers 

 were mixed through the mass. The top was a flat 

 platform. The nest, as well as the young bird, 

 was completely covered with very small, but 

 exceedingly lively parasit(!S. In order to have 

 the young leave the nest by this time, March 

 10th, or earlier, the eggs must have been laid 

 very early in the year, or late in the preceding, 

 which latter I think is frequently the case in 

 Florida. I have a set of two eggs that were 

 taken, when fresh, near Sarasota, on the Gulf 

 Coast, Nov. 21st, 1886. 



All the nests I saw— and they must have 

 been a small pai-t of those existing in that sec- 

 tion — were located within a mile of Indian 

 River, where an abundant supply of fish is con- 

 stantly found. I could not learn whether they 

 did their own fishing or relied on the services 

 of the Fish Hawk, (Pandion haliaetus carolinen- 

 sis), though the latter species did not seem at 

 all numerous and none of its nests were seen. 



A single specimen of the Swallow-tailed 

 Kite, {Elaiwides forficatus) was the only one I 

 saw of this beautiful bird. It was soaring 

 high in the air, but on its evolutions would de- 

 scend in a perpendicular pitch almost to the 

 ground. It was indeed an object of great 

 beauty, surpassing in its elegant form and 

 graceful flight any bird I ever saw. I could 

 not learn of their ever having been known to 

 nest in that locality, though it would be an 

 easy matter to overlook them in a country that 

 ofters such good chances for concealment. 



