iene eae UE by ON Wail Belin 3 
was one of the most stirring sights of bird flight I have ever witnessed. 
Wednesday, April 9. — After packing a lunch, a party of us went in 
a skiff to Cayo Costa Island to gather shells. I was delighted at the 
opportunity to go shelling, but I also thought of birds and took my 
binoculars along. 
We had gone only a quarter of a mile when I saw three shore birds 
on an oyster bar. While we were nearly one hundred yards away, I 
recognized them as black-necked stilts. It was a disturbing thought that 
they might leave before we were reasonably close to them, but our skipper 
cut down the motor, and I had an excellent view of them before they flew. 
They are the most striking shore birds I have ever seen. The under parts 
are pure white. The upper parts of the head and neck and the entire back 
is black, supposedly with a greenish cast, although it appeared solid black 
to me. The size is about the same as that of the greater yellow-legs, but 
I believe the legs of the stilts, which were a coral pink, are longer. 
Bald Eagle and Nest 
Cayo Costa is a long narrow strip of an island with its western shore 
line extending eight or ten miles along the gulf. Mooring the skiff on 
the eastern shore, which is a solid growth of mangrove, we walked through 
a path only a couple of hundred feet to the west. Then unexpectedly we 
were on a beach embracing miles of white glistening sand and shells, with 
the waves rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico. After taking a swim, we 
gathered shells. Sanibel Island, which is only twenty miles south, is 
reputed to have the best beach in the world for shell collectors, but I was 
