THE SEA BIRDS OF THE PLAINS. 



63 



spring. If you are looking at our American white pelican you 

 will see a bird without a crest, and with a yellowish bill, very flat 

 on top. Go again in May or June and observe the same bird. 

 He has a mane of white feathers nearly the whole length of his 

 neck ; his bill and the bare skin about his eyes are blood-red, 

 and on the top of his bill, as seen in the picture, rises a jagged 

 " centre-board," perhaps two inches tall and three inches long. 



Fig. 10. Head of White Pelican in Breeding Season. 



Both sexes show the centre-board, the red bill, and the breed- 

 ing plumes, and both lose them soon after the mating season is 

 over. The crest and the " horn " fall off, the bill fades to 

 yellow again, and by July or August the pelican is once more 

 without adornment, except the little grayish crest, quite unlike 

 his white mane ; this, in turn, is shed a little later in the 

 year. 



It is hardly more than twenty years since this interesting fact 



