THE ALLIES OF THE PIGEON 



381 



traditions among sailors concerning the albatross is referred 

 to in Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. Other members of the 

 group, called stormy petrels and Mother Carey's chickens, 

 are also regarded by many sailors with superstitious dread. 

 Pelicans and Allies. The members of the group Steganop'- 

 odes (Gr. steganos, "covered"; pons (pod-), "foot") differ 



Fig. 199. Colony of brown pelicans and young on nesting site 



The female near the center is protecting the young from the sun. (Photograph 



by Dr. Alvin R. Cahn) 



from all other web-footed birds in that all four toes are 

 connected by a web (Fig. 197). They are aquatic and 

 feed mainly on fishes. To this group belong the pelicans 

 (Fig. 199), remarkable for the pouch beneath the bill, which 

 is used as a scoop to capture food or as a storage reservoir. 

 There are about a dozen species of pelicans distributed 

 over the world, of which two species, the brown and the 

 white pelican, are found in the United States. White peli- 

 cans have the habit of surrounding schools of small fishes 



