Aug. 3, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
143 
St. Augustine, Fla., July 1. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: While down on the Indian River 
on a recent inspection trip among the motor 
boats of this district, I took the inclosed photo¬ 
graph which I thought might be of some in¬ 
terest. 
It represents a scene on Pelican Island, situ¬ 
ated on the east side of the Indian River across 
from Sebastian, Fla. The island is not very 
large, about two or three acres, and the pelicans 
have been nesting on it since or before the Civil 
War, and the island is now under the control of 
the Secretary of Agriculture, and there is a 
warden at Sebastian. No one is allowed to land 
on the island unless the warden accompanies. 
This picture was taken from a rowboat as we 
rowed around the island. The birds are all sizes, 
viz.: from the egg to full grown birds. 
I have been a subscriber to your magazine 
for the past two years and would not be with¬ 
out it. Edw. R. Joyce. 
Albino Sparrows. 
Rockdale, Tenn., July 22.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I notice in your last issue an article 
in regard to “An Albino Sparrow’’ by Laurence 
M. Crosbie, of Exeter, N. H. 
There are two albino sparrows at this place, 
one of which has been noticed around here for 
the last eight or nine years. This year, and 
also once in 1911,1 have seen the two together, 
so know that there are at least two of them. 
These sparrows are all white, the quill feathers 
seeming to be pure white, and the feathers on 
the back and breast with a slight tinge of yel¬ 
low like the fur of a white ferret. One of these 
sparrows has had a nest this year behind the 
chimney of a negro cabin near this place, and 
I see it almost daily. One or two other pairs 
have nests in the same place, and two broods 
of young have been hatched from these nests 
this year, but none of them that I have seen 
at least has been colored differently from the 
typical sparrow. The nearest I have been to 
this white bird is about twenty feet. I could 
see that its bill and legs were of a pinkish color, 
and 1 thought the eyes also were pink, but could 
not be certain of this. Did not have a glass at 
the time. 
In 1910 I saw a sparrow colored almost ex¬ 
actly like the one described by Mr. Crosbie. It 
was about three miles from here, so probably 
was not the offspring of one of these albinos. 
D. R. Gray. 
Yonkers, N. Y., July 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have seen white crows and white 
blackbirds, the latter quite frequently among the 
immense flocks on Cape Cod, but have never 
observed an albino sparrow until this season, 
when I have on several occasions seen a per¬ 
fectly white cock bird among a flock in the Lud¬ 
low section of our city. At first I thought him 
a different species, but his unmistakable chirp, 
shape and pugnacious manner proclaimed him 
a sure enough cock sparrow. 
George S. Snow. 
Night Herons in Illinois. 
Bloomington, Ill., July 27.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: Isaac E. Hess, the famous orni¬ 
thologist of Central Illinois, has discovered a 
colony of fifty pairs of black-crowned night 
herons in the timber along the Embarras River 
in Southern Champaign county, Illinois. These 
birds inhabit the loftiest elm trees of the grove, 
their nests being seventy-five feet from the 
ground. Each nest contained from four to five 
young, keeping the old birds active in supply¬ 
ing them with food. The adult night heron 
stands two feet in height. The male is a beau¬ 
tiful bird with three long, white plumes from 
the back of his head, down his back. His neck 
and breast are pure white, his back dark green 
and his eyes a flaming red. The female is with¬ 
out plumes, but is pure white. Subsisting upon 
insects, small reptiles and various pests of the 
farmer, the birds are of great value to the agri¬ 
cultural interests of the country, and the real 
sportsmen will never molest them. The colony 
discovered was so unusual in this day of grow¬ 
ing scarcity of wild life that observers are deep¬ 
ly interested in the discovery of the ornitholo¬ 
gist. The herons winter in the South. 
E. E. Pierson. 
“Keeping Flies off Cattle.” 
Morristown, 'N. J., June 29.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I am minded to try for the thanks 
promised in the last paragraph of your editorial. 
Keeping Flies Off Cattle” in your paper of 
June 1. The receipt I give you is by no means 
original with me, nor is it now published for the 
first time. It was given me long ago by an old 
salmon angler, and is also printed by Henry P. 
Wells in his “American Salmon Fisherman,” he 
having received it, if I mistake not, from the 
same party. I offer no suggestion at present, 
taking it for granted that anglers who really 
“paddle up stream” or land “the biggest fish” 
know all about them, but I unhesitatingly recom¬ 
mend to anyone who dislikes, as I do, the oil 
of citronella, the following lotion, easily pre¬ 
pared by any druggist, and if an experience of 
its virtues, lasting over fifteen years and ac¬ 
quired in the height of fly time in some of the 
worst fly-infested sections of Maine and Canada, 
be of any value, I can confidently affirm that 
he who uses it will have “no flies on him.” I 
suggest it, as it seems to be much less known 
than its merits warrant. Here it is: 
Best olive oil, half pint; creosote, 1 ounce; 
camphor, 1 ounce; pennyroyal, 1 ounce. 
Rub the camphor up in alcohol and mix. I 
have had the best results from the use of 
“beechwood” creosote. 
H. W. Van Wagenen. 
Unusual Bird Incidents. 
Whitneyville, Conn., July 18.—Editor 
Fores and Stream: While reading your most 
interesting paper this morning I saw the item 
about “Unusual Bird Incidents.” It spoke of 
the bluejay subsisting on insects only. I think 
that a mistake, especially in this part of the 
country, as I have many times seen the bluejay 
steal the young birds from nests of other birds. 
In that respect they are as bad as a crow for 
robbing nests. I do not know if the jay takes 
the eggs also, as the crow does, but I do know 
the bluejay will steal the young, and it is as 
much a lover of young birds for a meal as the 
crow and hawk are for young chickens. Many 
times I have seen all sorts of birds fighting a 
jay to drive it away from a nest of young birds. 
An incident of this kind happened not long ago 
in a hemlock tree near a window of our home 
from which my daughters and I watched the 
fight and tried to help the birds drive the blue¬ 
jay away. Mrs. Annie M. Avis. 
SCENE AT PELICAN ISLAND, INDIAN RIVER, FLA. 
