THE OOLOGIST. 



125 



island, four or five acres in extent, is a 

 low tract, barely above the water, and 

 offering excellent nesting sites for the 

 uncouth birds; it is situated in the 

 Indian river about twenty miles south 

 of Melbourne in Brevard County, Fla., 

 and has been known as an assemblage 

 ground for Pelicans for many years. 

 There are not nearly as many birds to 

 be seen about the place as there were 

 formerLy, but a sufticent number still 

 nest there to warrant an article for 

 your readers. 



When our craft came within three 

 hundred yards of the shore the birds 

 began to get uneasy and when we had 

 approached within fifty yards of the 

 island an immense number arose from 

 he surface and a few stunted trees and 

 flew about. It was not, however, until 

 a gun had been fired, that a good idea 

 of the colony could be had. Clouds 

 arose from the ground and settled on 

 the water, where they watched us on 

 shore. Most of the nests were built on 

 the ground and generally contained 

 two or three eggs or young, rarely four. 

 A few black mangroves offered support 

 for nests on branches from five to fif- 

 teen feet from the ground. They dif- 

 fered from those made on the ground in 

 having many more and heavier twigs, 

 and formed with more of a hollow and 

 less in height. Many; nests on the 

 ground were built to a height of nine 

 or ten inches and one or two were over 

 a foot deep. As a rule the nests were 

 about two feet in diameter, but some 

 were larger by about five inches and a 

 and few were smaller. They were all 

 built of dead and dried grass, very 

 coarse and much resembled straw from 

 a distance. Some nests were construct- 

 ed very shiftlessly and not over four 

 inches high at the edge. Again many 

 were deeply hollowed. It was evident 

 from an examination of the structures 

 that the birds during incubation, invar- 

 iably sat on the nest in one position — 

 the head generally facing the water. 



In those nests containing large young 

 the nests was generally much beaten 

 down and greatly disarranged. 



There must have been two hundred 

 nests containing eggs and young birds. 

 Many contained both eggs and young. 

 In many nests could be seen birds of ages 

 that varied from a few days to two weeks 

 and in one instance the dissimilarity in 

 size of the young was so great that the 

 larger bird in the nest was endeavoring 

 to swallow his diminutive squab relative. 

 We were informed that when the eggs roll 

 from the nests there are frequent fights 

 resulting from anxiety of the birds to 

 gain eggs for their nests. In this man- 

 ner eggs are frequently introduced into 

 new nests and the emerging of the 

 young is correspondingly differential. 

 We secured about seventy eggs that 

 had not been incubated for our cabi- 

 nets. The young are fed entirely on 

 fish and the amount which a squab can 

 place itself outside of is truly astonish- 

 ing. One old one had thirteen fish in 

 its pouch. 



In a careful estimate we agreed that 

 there were four thousand birds in the 

 colony and some of our party placed 

 the number as high as ten thousand. 

 Our stay on the island was not agree- 

 able on account of the stench arising 

 from the decomposing bodies of the 

 Pelicans butchered by tourists, and the 

 fish. We could have killed hundreds 

 of birds, but our party contented them- 

 selves with ten good plumaged birds. 

 M. Gibbs, M. D. 



Michigan Ornithology. 



In last number of the OoloGist I 

 notice an article on "An Ornithological 

 Paradise," decidedly interesting to me. 

 Michigan is a great state, one of mag- 

 nificent distances.. The whole state is 

 a paradise for the scientist, and as yet 

 there is much of the state that needs 

 careful exploration by him. There is a 

 great variation in surface, soil and cli- 

 mate, hence a great variation might be 



