The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-04
"PELICANTOWN."
A Seaside Resort Inhabitated b!
Several Thousand Birds.

Frank M. Chapman tells the readers or
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 village place their row OF
mud tenements under the roof OF a GER
| tain barn? Every nook in which a nest
could be built is occupied by the clay
! apartments-not one is ito let;' still none
! of the birds seem to think of building
under the equally favorable roof of the
neighbours barn. Their cousins, the bank
swallows, show the same strong sociabi
| ity 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.
1t 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 1t is not a question of food. for
insects are abundant everywhere, and
these strong-iying birds can hunt them
over miles of country. 1t is not because
they find safety in numbers rather
90 they make themselves conspicuous by
gathering in such large bodies. AS rule
/ it is soeiability-the desire for compan-
ionship-that offers the only reasonable
explanation of the great colonies which
may be observed at nesting tirne.
Certainly no other theory will explain
the origin of PelicantoWn. It's site, like
those often selected by human colonists,
seems poorly chosen; It's natural adVan-
| tages 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 5000, few maps
will show it. Glance with me. therefore,
at Il 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. Pelieantown 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 is an
island, triangular in shape, containing
| about three acres of ground. few
| bushes and low palm trees grow on It,
| and there are great patches of tangled
! grass but at least onefourth Of Its sur
! face is bare land.
! During the nesting season this barren
! island is the home of probably all the
! pelicars of Indian river. Here they come
| to build their nests lay their eggs and
rear their young, and from January to
May life In Pelicantown presents many
novel scenes and picturesque Incidents
In March, 1885, I visited this city OF
! birds AS my boat approached saw
signs of life. Files of birds were return
ing from fishing expeditions; platoons
were resting on the sandy points; some
were in bathing, others were sailing
| about in broad circles high overhead; and
soon ore could hear the sound of many
voices-a medley of strange cries In an
unknown tongue.
II being quite impossible TO count the
birds, l determined to count their nests,
of which nv census showed there were
! Doubtless many young birds die through
no less than S45; but only PSI were occu-
pied, though all had been built that
! spring.
| The death rate Is high in Pelicantown.
! injuries received while trying to escape
/ from tourists who visit the islands and
thoughtlessly chase the young birds
I about Eggs and very young birds are
destroyed in hundreds by tiisn-crOws, that
daily come over from the mainland on
marauding expeditions. 1t is not prob
/ able, therefore, that in many families
! three young pelicans live to leave the
nest together: hence we may reckon
about one and half pelicans to each Of
the deserted nests. Add to these two pa
rent pelicans to each nest, and we have
| 25S1 birds On the wing or on foot. But
| this number is to be increased by the 154
young that were still in the nests, making
| the total population Of Pelicantown 2, 735.
This calculation, however, does not take
| into account the eggs found, from which
! almost hourly come new inhabitants of
the island.