38 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIII. 



can be energized, so in the case of telepathy and 

 teloesthesia which if not identical with electricity 

 operate much in the same way, a circuitous con- 

 nection must be established before results can be 

 obtained. These results in the case of teloesthesia 

 are no doubt enhanced by the cover of darkness 

 (just as they are said to be in the case of the 

 Marconi system) this accounting no doubt for so 

 many birds migrating at night. In telepathy (mind 

 blending) and teloesthesia (perception at a distance, 

 or power of vision passing the limits of time and 

 space) however the forces operate through a medium 

 not apparent at present to our sense, and therefore 

 we cannot determine the necessary conditions, or 

 reahze their full significance, but this may possibly 

 be an open book some day, when sufficient time can 

 be given to the study of life functioning on a plane 

 other than our own. 



My studies in the field of late have more and 

 more convinced me that in telepathy and teloesthesia 

 we have the means of answering some of those 

 awkward questions which are for ever perplexing the 



followers and believers in the old idea that birds 

 are self-conscious beings, and perform their wonder- 

 ful feats by a process of reasoning. As a matter 

 of fact these facts are not so very wonderful as 

 natural, because they belong to the infallibility of a 

 subconscious, and not to the reasonings and hence 

 mistakes of a self-conscious mind. 



In conclusion I see in the late war one of the 

 most definite proofs against the belief that birds 

 are self-conscious for had they been so they would 

 surely have forsaken the battlefields of France and 

 Flanders, which has not been the case. The resi- 

 dents have remained just as usual, and the migrants 

 have come and gone likewise. Thus in face of 

 danger of which they know nothing the birds have 

 kept on the same course and frequented the same 

 places, which for countless ages have been their 

 custom, and despite the noise of battle have nested 

 as heretofore, surely a proof that they do not act 

 on their own responsibility, but are dependent on the 

 ruling of their subconscious minds. 



THE WHITE PELICAN, PELECANUS ERYTHRORHYNCHOS, IN ALBERTA 



By F. L. Farley, Camrose, Alta. 



Sometime in the summer of 1908, I heard of an 

 island in a lake about 18 miles north of Camrose, 

 where a large number of White Pelicans nested. 

 After more enquiries I learned that the island was in 

 the furthermost North Miquelon lake, one of several 

 beautiful small bodies of water lying to the south 

 of the Beaver Hills. At the time there were prac- 

 tically no trails leading into that new country, and 

 with one exception no land had been taken up 

 around the lakes; it was therefore in its natural 

 state. I was not able to visit the island until the 

 shooting season opened, when a friend and I drove 

 to the lower lake, and with a row boat worked our 

 way through this and the middle lake, and made a 

 short passage into what we named Pelican lake. 

 This body of water is about two miles long by one 

 mile in width and the timber grows to within a 

 few feet of the high water line. The island is quite 

 descernible about one mile out in the lake. The 

 two outstanding features were the several large 

 nests up in the trees, which turned out to belong to 

 the Great Blue Heron, and the large wave of white 

 which seemed to cover the eastern shore of the 

 island. As we came near this apparent white wave 

 turned out to be Pelicans, some of which were on 

 the beach and others close by in the water. 



Before we approached to within 500 yards, those 

 that were not in the water joined the others, and 



swam around the south side of the island, and upon 

 our speeding up, they arose, a few at a time, and 

 before we reached the shore the whole flock was 

 high in the air, moving in wonderful formations al- 

 most immediately overhead. A small flock seemed 

 to be particularly interested in us and came down 

 to within close range, so close that the black mark- 

 ings showed quite clearly. Others were probably 

 half a mile high, and about half the Hock were at 

 such an altitude that they did not look larger than 

 Rmall gulls. When a flock of these birds are 

 wheeling and circling in a close set company of 

 from ten to fifty, their appearance in the air is one 

 of almost unbelievable change. When they are 

 sailing in such a way as to present their horizontal 

 aspect to the distant observer, they are nearly lost to 

 view, but when they are banking for a turn, there 

 comes to view a wonderful brilliance of white wings 

 and bodies, flashing in the sunshine, beautiful beyond 

 the powers of one's mind to imagine, and at a 

 distance of a mile or two the transcendent ease and 

 grace of their flight is intensified, because all hint 

 of effort and of wing motion is lost to the observer. 

 We remained on the island for about an hour, 

 and before we left the lake the birds had alighted 

 on a long stony bar a short distance to the west 

 of the island. Our estimate of the number of Pel- 

 icans, after failing to count them several times, was 



