64 THE LOOK 



according to Davie. (I have never taken more than four.) — 

 In size they vary much. I have had variations of 50-100 

 in eggs of the same set. By the latter part of March many 

 of the eggs are hatched. The young birds are only ex- 

 celled in ugliness by the Pelican's offspring, and when they 

 are three or four weeks old and commence " learning to 

 walk" they are a caricature of a boy taking lessons in stilt- 

 walking. They are very impolite, and on the slightest pro- 

 vocation eject a fish from their mouths — nasty things! The 

 parent birds rear two broods in one season sometimes, but 

 not always. I think they sometimes raise a "Cracker" 

 brood and then go North and raise a lot of "Hoosiers," 

 " Suckers" or " Buckeyes." 



Let us hear from those States, and others as well, con- 

 cerning the breeding habits of this prince (if not king) of 

 birds. I have done my best. Brother oologists, follow 

 suit. Chas. L. McPherson. 



St. Petersburg, Florida. 



For the Loon. 

 A Trip to Melbourne, Fla. 



One bright and sunny morning in the early part of January 

 the proprietor of the plantation where I was stopping, whom we 

 will call Mr. L., another boarder and myself, started for Mel- 

 bourne, a small town of a few hundred inhabitants situated 12 

 miles above Micco, the name of the place at which I was stop- 

 ping, in the sloop Lida. 



