The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-03-18


Birds is Acknowledgements ,,Rookeries
ON Ocean Isles.
(St. Louis Globe Democrat
zone of the most remarkable sights I
have seen in my travels said we'll
known traveller, twas an island in the
Gulf of Mexico, net far from the west
end of Cuba, possibly ninety miles dis
tant. We put in there on yacht for
water, and when about three miles off
noticed peculiar black cloud hanging
over the island. 1t looked like the5smoBe
of volcano blown fat and restricted
to the island.
AS We approached it grew more pro-
nounced, and when within half a mile
we began TO hear noise. peculiar dull
roaring sound, and then saw that the
black cloud was made up of birds. We
ran within 200 yards of the beach, and
the uproar was SO great that tha men
could not hear the orders shouted to
them. as great numbers of the birds left
the Island and few GUS toward us, filing
the air with their cries. We dropped an
chor and went ashore, and the moment
we landed there came from the bushes as
many more birds, each shrieking as loud
as it could, creating a bedlam that was
terrifying to man or beast. The air was
filled with Birds SO that the very heavens
were hidden. Their numbers were in
conceivable. I should say there were
millions. There were black headed
gulls. or terns, together with noddies-
dark chocolate bird, with white
head. The gulls nestled on the ground,
while the noddies built rude nests in the
trees.
We crawled through the bush, which
was low bay-oedhr, and found the
ground COVERED with eggs about the size
of hens egg. but specked, They were
SO thick in places that it was almost i'm
possible to step without crushing them,
and they could be Literally collected by
the barrelful While on the island a
smack from Havana put in which had
her hold full of empty -four barrels. They
were taken lahore, and while some of
the men piled up the eggs in heaps
Others filled the barrels with them. They
would first put in layer of bay cedar
leaves, then layer of eggs, and SO on,
alternately, until.the barrel was full ),
when it would be taken down to the
beach and sent aboard the smack. In
this way the crew filed the hold with
eggs in less than a week.
k''The nests of the gullS that laid on the
sands were simply depressions. and the
eggs once deposited the bird paid no more
attention to them, the hot sun doing this
work of incubation. But when the young
hat hn6 t1,nu fo6 1otr, %h<.~ +b.,.,
distinguished their own young among
the thousands of birds that orawled over
the sand was mystery.
The heat here was something fright
full. The low bushes were intertwined
SO that they formed thick mass of YER
dure difficult to force ones way through,
and hundred feet of pushing and tear
ing was sufficient to wear n man ont
Wherever there was break, big, ugly
spiders had spun their webs, which
were almost stout enough to hold bird,
and the space was filled with prickly
pear, under which the birds had crawled
to deposit their eggs,
"There was q continual battle between
the birds and hermit and other crabs
The moment bird brought in n fish for
the young, the crabs would assem- BILE and
snatch it away. simply ovsrpowering the
young bird and in many instances de-
vourinR it. This was equally true of
the birds which nested in the trees. As
soon Rs a fish was taken to the nest. the
crabs seemed to know it, and began a
pilgrimage up the trunk-red crabs with
purple claws, others with clanking shells
shaped like tops-until the branches
about the nest would be covered with the
horde, all waiting until the old bird
should fly. off, when they would fall upon
the helpless young and rob it.
1.-The noise made by this swarm of
birds was more thar a babel; it was ap-
palling, and could not long be endured
peculiar feature about 1t: II a person
shouted, or fired a gun, or made any
loud noise which could he heard over the
entire island. Immediately all the birds
would pitch downward, aud for single
moment there would be almost absolute
silence. The birds had stopped TO listen !;
then they would rise and the noise
would begin again worse than ever.
ain wandering through this island,
which was a small one. l saw how easy
it was for any one to become lost. us
was completely exhausted a score of
times and almost sutfocated by the burn
ing heat under the bush''
Thataamen have been driven almost
mad and dogs killed under similar cir
cumstanoes is well known, the locality
being the vast penguin rookeries of Inac-
cessible Island, in the Southern Ocean.
Here the birds oongregate in Numbers 30
vast that they cannot be computed, and
for unknown centuries have converted
the place into a vast guano field. The
rookery is on level tract, through
W hich visitors must pass to reach the
interior. 1t is covered with tussock
grass that has grown as high as man S
head; into this wide street reaches up
from the sea, and then branches into
many lateral paths and trails that form a
perfect maze. A party visiting this spot
ana desiring TO reach the cliffs of the
island found the path crowded with PEN
guins, which were coming from the sea
in droves and hopping up the slippery
incline to take their positions on the
rocks. They paid little attention to the
strangers, but when the latter entered
the gateway they found tho streets lined
with penguins on nests. that struck at
them viciously, their sharp beaks bring
ing the blood whenever they struck. At
first the nen made fair Roadway, but the
numbers of birds increased SO rapidly that
soon at every step they were bonn barded
by the birds in a manner which was de-
cidedly serious. The path grew more
slippery, and Intense heat poured down
upon them, and if man fell he was in
danger of losing his eyesight, as the sharp
b.-o-o+ Tho h31to shot oft h5o ouoa Gov