THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



those of the avian pirates could be dis- 

 tinguished by their greater size and much 

 greater depth and their situation upon the 

 highest branches of the mangroves. 



An unmistakable odor of guano pervaded 

 the locality and was noticeable a hundred 

 yards away to leeward. As the nesting 

 season advanced and the young began to 

 hatch the odor increased till under the hot 

 rays of the sun the operation of collecting 



Reference has been made to the general 

 distant view of the rookery shown in the 

 third illustration, and which needs no 

 further explanation. The second view was 

 taken from a boat in rapid motion, and 

 represents a female upon her nest beating 

 her wings in the act of rising, while on a 

 nest above is a male bird without the gula 

 pouch distended. Half a dozen or more 

 nests came within the field of the camera, 





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V, 



1 



■M 



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The Rookery. 



eggs became an enthusiastic rather than a 

 pleasurable one. The difiiculty of getting 

 about was considerable; the mangroves, 

 which were mostly higher than one's head, 

 were too dense to allow moving amongst 

 them, so that progress had to be made over 

 them by slow and careful movements. 

 Sometimes a branch would give way, al- 

 lowing the collector to fall, not to the 

 ground, but till lodged midway in a pecu- 

 liarly helpless position, from which it re- 

 quired time to extricate one's self. 



but only those from which the white eggs 

 show can be easily discerned. The cut of 

 the nest, white with incrusted excrement, 

 is an accurate representation of the slight 

 affair constructed by the Man-o'-War Bird 

 for receiving its single egg. 

 San Francisco, Cal. 



Mr. C. A. Keeler's work on the evolution 

 of colors in birds has received a critical 

 handling by Mr. J. A. Allen in the Auk. 

 Six pages were devoted to its review. 



