“The flying birds, after a short circuit, returned to their nests.” 
silent. For want of better reason, we shall 
have to lay it to imnate natural depravity, 
that only the grace of further education and 
experience overcomes. Then the gang would 
scamper away, perhaps bent upon some gay 
prank. Those on the mangroves could not 
run from us, but gave, as we approached, a 
rousing reception, making terrific lunges at 
us with loud snaps of the bill, with screams 
that would repel any enemy. 
The pelicans secure food for their young 
by plunging headlong into the sea and ¢atch- 
ing fish in their seine-like pouch. Though all 
youngsters are supposed to be in a chronic 
state of hunger, these children require to be 
fed only twice a day—morning and after- 
noon, we are told. Strangely enough, though 
the river seems to he full of fish, the pelican 
parents do not fish anywhere near the island, 
though the young may do so later. In flocks 
they fly across the narrow strip of “ hum- 
mock,” or jungle, that separates the river 
which is properly a salt-water lagoon —from 
the ocean, where they may be seen off the 
beach sailing about and plunging after their 
prey. It was not the regular feeding time 
while we were on the island, and we saw the 
curious feeding process but a few times. The 
youngster thrust head and neck away down 
into the parent's gullet, with greedy violence, 
and gobbled away at the partly digested fish. 
In the ease of the older children, roaming 
about in bands, it may be a question whether 
the parents can identify their own, or whether 
communism is not, for the time, the order of 
pelican society. 
Presently we made a visit to the other large 
group of pelicans at the southwest corner of 
the island, about a hundred and fifty yards 
from the first. Here we found a similar state 
of affairs. Each of the many occupied nests 
was brooded over by a devoted parent — 
whether the male or female, I could not tell. 
The citizens all dress well, and look remark- 
ably neat and clean. But let not the visitor 
hope to vie with the pelicans in neatness of 
apparel or cleanliness, upon thatisland. The 
passing birds are continually dropping a 
watery excrement as they fly, which, though 
it does not seem to stick upon the oily plum- 
age of the pelicans, certainly does not allow 
the garments of human visitors to remain un- 
spotted. The ground, too, is very dirty, in- 
fested by swarms of insects, and in a short 
time our clothing and cameras were well 
besmeared. 
Naturally, we were interested to make an 
estimate of the population of Pelican Island. 
As nearly as we could count, there were 450 
nests at the east end, 512 at the southwest, 
and 14 at the northwest, making 976 im all. 
This means 1,952 adult birds on the island. 
