PELICAN ISLANDS 



HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 



That long narrow bay or lagoon on the east coast of 

 Florida known as the Indian River, contains hundreds of 

 mangrove-covered islets all singularly alike in character, but 

 as far hack as the record goes one of them, possessing not 

 more than three acres, has been the principal nesting resort 

 of the Brown Pelicans of this region and, at the present 

 time, these birds are not known to breed at any other place 

 on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. In "Bird Studies with a 

 Camera," (pp. 191-214), I have given the results of observa- 

 tions made on Pelican Island in March, 1898. When neces- 

 sary, however, for the sake of completeness, some of this 

 material is incorporated with the results of the later studies 

 contained in this chapter. 



In 1858, Dr. Henry Bryant, whose enterprise in ornitho- 

 logical exploration deserves far higher recognition than it 

 has commonly received, wrote (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 VII, 1859, p. 19) : 



" That the most extensive breeding place," he visited in 

 Florida, "was on a small island, called Pelican Island, about 

 twenty miles north of Fort Capron. The nests here were 

 placed on the tops of mangrove-trees, which were about the 

 size and shape of large apple-trees. Breeding in company 

 with the Pelicans were thousands of Herons, Peale's Egret, 

 the Rufous Egret and Little White Egret, with a few pairs 

 of the Great Blue Heron, and Roseate Spoonbills; and im- 

 mense numbers of Man-of-War Birds and White Ibises 

 were congregated upon the island. * * *." 



Of the birds mentioned by Dr. Bryant, the Pelican alone 

 remains ; while of the trees which covered the island at the 

 time of his visit, not a single one is living. In 1898, when I 



