LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 301 



Casual records. — Accidental in Bermuda (April, 1850). Has 

 wandered as far east as Nova Scotia (Pictou, three records, and Cape 

 Breton, Louisbourg, May 19, 1904), as far west as Michigan (St. 

 Joseph, June 7, 1904), Wyoming (Cheyenne, July 12, 1899), and 

 Colorado (Thomasville, June, 1908). 



Egg dates. — Florida : Thirty-four records, February 1 to June 

 30, seventeen records, April 16 to May 15. Texas: Fifteen records, 

 April 4 to May 28 ; eight records April 16 to May 28. South Caro- 

 lina : Nine records. May 8 to June 23. 



PELECANUS OCCIDENTALIS CAIJFORNICUS Ridgway. 



CALIFORNIA BROWN PELICAN. 



HABITS. 



Although long regarded as a distinct species, perhaps at no very 

 distant epoch in the history of evolution, this large Pacific coast 

 species was connected by intergrading forms with the common 

 brown pelican of our tropical and subtropical coasts, for it is not 

 difficult to imagine the former existence of a continuity of range 

 across the isthmus of Panama. The California brown pelican dif- 

 fers from its eastern relative chiefly in its much larger size, the 

 darker color of its hind neck, which is nearly black, and the color 

 of its pouch, which is largely reddish at certain seasons. 



On the coast of southern California and Lower California peli- 

 cans are almost as common and conspicuous as they are on the coasts 

 of Florida, grotesque and striking features in the landscape. The 

 habits of the tAvo species are so much alike and their life histories 

 are so nearly identical that it would involve much useless repetition 

 to do more than to describe the nesting habits of this species and 

 add a few points of interest. 



Nesting. — The California brown pelican breeds from the Santa 

 Barbara Islands southward. On these islands and on Los Coro- 

 nados Islands it seems to prefer to nest on steep rocky slopes, build- 

 ing a bulky nest of sticks, grasses, and rubbish; such sites seem 

 strange when compared with the low flat islands in which we are 

 accustomed to find the eastern bird breeding; the California birds 

 also seem to be much shyer than our birds and to nest in smaller 

 or more scattered colonies. 



Mr. A. W. Anthony (1889) , writes : 



The largest colony that I have found thus far was discovered on San 

 Martin Island April 12, 1888. The island of San Martin lies about 5 miles 

 offshore and nearly due west from San Quentin, Lower California, in about 

 Lat. 30° 33' N. With the exception of a few acres of sand on the east and 

 northeastern sides, it is composed entirely of lava, which has escaped from 

 an extinct volcano on the southern end of the island; the greatest elevation 

 is found at this point, which is perhaps 450 feet above the sea. The entire 



