82 



THE OOLOGIST. 



strip of sand, it communicates with' 

 the sea by a few narrow openings called 

 inlets. In this lagoon are many low 

 islands and all along the low ragged 

 shores are numerous smaller lagoons or 

 bayous, which furnish feeding grounds 

 on the waters and nesting quarters on 

 the shores for the Herons aud other 

 waders as also for manyswimmers. 



At our stopping place, known as Oak 

 Lodge, or as the Seminole Indians 

 called it, Alatka Shako, there were * 

 from ten to twenty persons constantly 

 during the winter mouths. Among 

 others Professor Jencks of Brown Uni- 

 A^ersity, who is an annual visitor to the 

 sub-tropical regions. Then there were 

 several young men from the North, who 

 were in for any kind of a lark. Also 

 John Baird. captain of a small schoon- 

 er, and who made his headquarters at 

 this place. He was our chief depen- 

 dence as he was familiar with each is- 

 land and bayou in the -vicinity, and 

 moreover was an excellent sailor and a 

 kind and thoughtful companion. 



After sailing over all the river in our 

 neighborhood, we one day decided to 

 visit Pelican Island ten miles down the 

 lagoon aud a few miles below the 

 mouth of the St. Sebastian River. Ac- 

 cordingly about the middle of February 

 six of us provisioned aud armed our- 

 selves, and set off in the yacht with .a 

 good breeze. The Pelicaus, which we 

 had studied for some time as they flew 

 back a.'d forth were the constant tar- 

 get at which all visitors shot, and it is 

 a surprise that, the birds do not all 

 leave the section. The Brown Pelicans 

 have a love for a nesting spot and they 

 adhere to a chosen site even when per- 

 secuted year after year. This rookery 

 has been known to exist for over twen- 

 ty years and the birds have been shot 

 and robbed of their eggs and young an- 

 nually for over a decade and yet they 

 persist in nesting in the same situation 

 each winter and spring. We were in- 

 formed by residents near at band, that 



the birds were fully three or four times; 

 as many on the island a few years ago- 

 and that the eggs and young were ten 

 to twenty times more numerous a few 

 seasons back. 



When the yacht drew near to the is- 

 land the birds began to get uneasy and 

 coustautly arose singly or in small 

 flocks from the water near at hand, but 

 it was only after we had left for land 

 in the small boat and tire 1 a volley at 

 the huge birds, that a good idea was. 

 had of the size of the colony. 



At the first shot clouds of clumsily 

 built creatures arose from the island 

 and near shore and again settled sever- 

 al hundred feet away on the river. At 

 each discharge new detachments arose 

 with a mighty rush of wings, and mak- 

 ing a noise with the beating of their 

 huge pinions not unlike distant thun- 

 der. 



By an honest estimate I calculate 

 that there were 4,000 birds present, 

 when we first hove in sight, but no 

 others of the party agreed with me, as. 

 they all placed the number at a much 

 higher figure, one even assertiug that . 

 there were not less than 10,000 birds. 

 Of course a great many were away fish- 

 ing; and perhaps the larger majority 

 were securing fish away from home, as 

 I know to a certainty that these birds 

 often seek their food fully twenty miles 

 away, and I should not be surprised to 

 learn that they flew fifty to a hundred 

 miles for supplies during nesting sea- 

 son, and when the demand and necess- 

 ity is greater. 



Many of the old birds kept flying over 

 us, offering easy and tempting shots. 

 These birds were undoubtedly anxious 

 for the safety of their young. But the 

 large majority of the colony flew away 

 or sat silently with bended necks a few 

 hundred yards out, where they alter- 

 nately drifted with the faint breeze 

 which reached them in the sheltered 

 situation and fished in their usual man- 

 ner, ' 



