A Glimpse at Pelicantown.

Otago Witness, Issue 2388, 7 December 1899, Page 54

A Glimpse at Pelicantown.

Frank M. Chapman tells the readers of the September St. Nicholas how- and where the pelicans of Florida build their nests and breed. Why is it, he asks, that all the cave-swallows in a village place their row of mud tenements under a certain barn? Every nook in which a nest could be built is occupied by the clay apartments — not one is " to let " ; still, none of the birds seem to think of building under the equally favourable roof of the neighbouring Darn. Their cousins, the bank-swallows, show the same strong sociability, and from miles around they gather to nest in some particular sand-bank, the face of which will be thickly pitted with the entrances to their burrows.

It is not because the place chosen is the only one available that the birds nest in flocks. There may be hundreds of barns and banks just as good as the ones selected. It is not a question- oHood, fop insects are abundant everywhere, and these ,atropgflying birds can hunt them over miles of country. It is not because they find " safety in numbers " ; rath,er, do they make themselves conspicuous by gathering in such large bodies. As a rule, it is sociability — ths desire for companionship— that offei*s the only reasonable explanation for the great colonies " which may be observed • at nesting-time. Certainly, no other theory will explain, the origin of Pelicantown. Its site, like those often selected by human colonists, seems poorly chosen ; its natural advantage^ are few ; but so attached to their home are its inhabitants that even the' most cruel persecution by their human foes has failed to drive them from the land of their ancestors. ' *~

But where is Pelicantown? In spite of its population of nearly 3000, few maps will show it. Glance with me, therefore, at a map of Florida. Find the Indian River, that long, narrow lagoon on its east coast, divided from the sea by only a. ribbon of land. Pelicantown is situated about midway between its northern and southern extremities, near the eastern shore of a bay which here makes the river about three miles wide. It id r.n island, triangular in shape, containing about thiee acres of ground. A few bushes and low palm trees grow on it, and there are great patches of tangled grass, but at least onefourth of its surface is bare sand.

During the nesting season this barren island is the home of probably all the pelicans of the Indian Jtivei\ Here they come to build their nesls, lay their eggs, and rear their young, and from January to May life in Pelicantown presents many novel scenes and picturesque incidents.

In March, 1898, I visited this city of birds. , As, my boat approached I saw signs of life. Files of birds were returning Jrom fishing expeditions; platoons were resting on the sandy points ; .some were in bathing, others were" sailing about in broad circles high overhead ; and soon one could hear the sound of many voice.?-— a medley of strange cries in an unknown tongue. ■

It being quite impossible to count the birds, I determined to count their nests, of which my census showed there were no less than 845; b\it only 251 were occupied, though all had been built that spring.

The death-rate is high in Pelicantown. Doubtless many young birds die through injuries received while trying to escape from tourists who visit the island and thoughtlessly chase the young birds about. Eggs and very young birds are, destroyed in^hundreds by fish-crows that daily come over from the" mainland on inarauding expeditions. It is not probable, therefore, that in many families three young pelicans live to • leave the nest together ; hence we may reckon y.bout one and a-half pelicans to each of the deserted nests. Add to these two parent pelicans to each nest, and we have 2581 birds on the wing or on foot. But this number is to be increased by the 154 young tha.t were still in the nests, making the total population of.Felicantown, 2735.

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