Page:Condor6(5).djvu/16

 THE CONDOR VoL. VI noted in Texas or Florida. The route the species takes from Brazil to California is one of the yet unsolved migration puzzles. The red-eyed vireo, the commonest and best known of its tuneful family, win- ters in Central America, from Guatemala to Panama. The advent of the species in spring at the mouth of the Mississippi and'its even-paced passage at 2o miles per day for six weeks to the headwaters of the river are well attested by numerous records. But just about the time northern Nebraska is reached, and before they have appeared in any of the intervening country, red-eyed vireos are noted in south British Columbia, x,ooo miles to the northwest. Is the presence of the red eye in British Columbia to be explained by the theory that it suddenly flies x,ooo miles in a single night? It is such problems as these that continually vex and fascinate the investigator. WashingIon, D.C. Pelicans Nesting at Utah Lake BY REV. S. It. GOODWIN k IGHT nfiles southwest of the Provo Resort, on Utah 1.ake, lies a small, low crescent-shaped ridge of land known as Rock Island. During the period of unusually high water, of the past spring, the major portion of this island was barely two feet above the water, while a part of it was considerably less. When visited by our party it was about two hundred yards in length by about thirty yards in width, at the widest point, while fully one hundred yards of the western horn of the island was under some three inches of water, above which rose a broken line of detached boulders. The principal part of this island is a lime- stone ledge with loose rocks and boulders scattered over the surface; about one- third of the eastern end is of gravel. The only vegetation consists of a few clumpsof stunted willow, and a narrow, ragged fringe of rulesalong the northern edge Equipped with glass, gun, and camera a party of four of us laboriously made our way toward this island one June morning, for reports had come that hundreds of pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) were nesting there for the first time in the history of the island. From time immemorial these strange, solemn birds had foraged on Utah Lake--where a few years ago many hundreds of them were killed for the small bounty offered by the state--but never before had they nested here. Apparently they preferred the larger and more secluded islands in Salt Lake, fifty miles to the north. We had loaded our plunder into a small, water-soaked sail-boat, made everything ready and set sail--but we did not sail, as not so much as one breath of air was stirring and as there was no promise of an immediate change for the better, we rowed the entire distance. After the to preachers had bent to the oars for more than an hour and a half, and the sun had painted flame- color exposed wrists and unprotected necks, our sailing-master--who by the way is an old "salt," and a descendant of generations of Scandinavian sea-rovers--east his weather-eye toward the yet distant island and quaintly remarked: "I dinks ve vas nearder dot island dan ven ve started--I don' know." Encouraged by this heartening observation, the oarsmen renewed their efforts, and an hour later the boat touched the pointed end of the island.