8 WILD WINGS 



fly across to the ocean for that purpose. Since it was not 

 feeding-time during our stay, we saw this curious operation 

 only a very few times. The youngsters, with greedy violence, 

 thrust head and neck away down into the parent's gullet, 

 and gobble away at the partly digested fish. In the case of 



"they made me think of gangs of boys" 



the older children, roaming around in bands, it would seem 

 remarkable if parents can identifv their own, and if commun- 

 ism is not for a time the order of pelican society. 



Presently we made a visit to the other 4arge group of peli- 

 cans at the southwest corner of the island, about a hundred 

 and fifty yards from the first. Here we found a similar state 

 of affairs. Each of the many occujiied nests was brooded over 

 by a devoted parent — I could not tell whether male or female. 

 Yet there was considerable going and coming, for one reason 

 or other, making a lively scene, with enough noise from the 

 harsh, croaking voices of the birds to suggest considerable 



