THE OOLOGIST. 



149 



predated the situation, for several lo- 

 cal sailors informed me that the Peli- 

 cans had been very uneas3 7 ' in their ac- 

 tions for a week or more previous to 

 my visit. 



It seems to me that readers of the Ool- 

 oarsT would derive much more beneht 

 from an able article regarding any spe- 

 cies if other observers in various local- 

 ities would add such points of peculiar 

 interest, in regard to the same species 

 as they may have observed, for publica- 

 tion in a near issue. In this way we 

 would have a condensed and compre- 

 hensive study of the rarer and more is- 

 olated species, which most of us are 

 not able to study for ourselves, while 

 •our attention is still attracted to them 

 by the first article in a late issue. 

 Therefore I trust that Dr. Gibbs will 

 pardon this seeming trespass upon his 

 subject. I hope we may very soon see 

 the further notes on the same subject, 

 which he promised to furnish us "if re- 

 quested." 



In February 1885 our party of four 

 from Michigan, left Titusville in the 

 cruising yacht, the "Orient" and pro- 

 ceeded south on Indian River for sev- 

 eral days until we neared the locality 

 inhabited by the Pelicans. It was a 

 several hours run out to the Island, 

 and as the yacht approached from the 

 west, the birds on that side of the Is- 

 land became very uneasy and many 

 took flight, but as we neared shore in 

 our small boat, all on that side of the 

 Island rose. But we will proceed to 

 observe the very different circum- 

 stances from those noted by Dr. Gibbs. 

 The water had risen several feet higher 

 than had been known for many years, a 

 short time before, and the nests on the 

 ground had been floated away and the 

 great white eggs, wagon-loads of them, 

 were strewn promiscuously over the en- 

 tire south half of the Island, in some 

 places being left in wind-rows, as it 

 were, by the receding water. All were 

 spoiled. Oh! how the collector might 



wish them in sets and distributed among 

 the cabinets of the land where they 

 would be of some use. We see, then, 

 that at least for once the collector is 

 not the worst enemy of theirj nests on 

 Indian River. The only occupied nests, 

 which at this time contained young, 

 were in the stunted Mangroves at the 

 North end of the Island 



These joung were truly loathsome in 

 their appearance, as awkard as squabs 

 hissing aud tumbling about on the 

 rude platforms of sticks and weeds, aud 

 surrounded with dung and fishes in va- 

 rious stages of decomposition, from 

 which a fearful stench arose. Most of 

 the adults were rather shy but those 

 having young perched upon the dead 

 Mangrove stubs and allowed an ap- 

 proach, at times, to within thirty feet 

 or even less. 



As we left the Island we noticed a 

 fine specimen of this species floating 

 listlessly upon the water apparently 

 sick, though still sitting erect. We ap- 

 proached easily capturing it, and found 

 that it had captured and stored in its 

 pouch a salt-water Cat-fish weighing 

 about two pounds. The fish, probably 

 accidently in struggling, had thrust its 

 so-called horns, on either side of the 

 body, through the skin on both sides of 

 the pouch -and there the poor bird was 

 with the obnoxious fish -permanently 

 lodged in its throat. With some diffi- 

 culty he was removed, but I fear the 

 bird would not recover from its weak- 

 ness. Thus we see that Nature affords 

 revenge at times to even her lowest 

 creatures. 



At Lake Worth, another lagoon on 

 the Atlantic coast, ten miles south of 

 Jupiter Inlet, the southern terminus of 

 Indian River, it was a very common 

 sight to see thirty or forty Pelicans sit- 

 ting on a sand-bar,pruning their feath- 

 ers, from which company members 

 would occasionally leave on a fishing ex- 

 pedition near by. They would first fiy 

 high above the water and upon locating 



