XV 



American Brown Pelican 

 126. Pelicanus fuscus 



This remarkable-looking big water bird, with its bill 

 several times the length of its head and a ''dip net^' 

 holding a gallon attached to the under side of its bill, 

 is represented in the United States by two varieties of 

 sub-genus, the White Pelican and its lesser brother, the 

 Brown Pelican. Both are fish eaters, the Brown secur- 

 ing its fish by diving from a height into a school of sur- 

 face-swimming minnows. The White Pelican, the skin of 

 which is filled with air cells, cannot dive but must pa- 

 tiently wait for its food supply to come within reach of 

 its beak, to be scooped up by a quick stroke, the wide- 

 open bill and sac forming a semi-vacuum into which fish- 

 laden water rushes. With a rapid closure the fish are 

 imprisoned, while the water is gradually forced from 

 the sac along the edges of the bill; then the fish are 

 swallowed. 



The White Pelican is a bird of the middle and west- 

 em United States ; it breeds both along the seashore and 

 along inland fresh water lakes, as in the Yellowstone and 

 the Klamath lakes. 



The Brown Pelican is maritime and abounds along 

 the Gulf of Mexico from the Rio Grande to Key West 

 and up the Atlantic shore to South Carolina. Both 

 species are gregarious and gather in untold thousands 

 in some localities, to breed. (Fig. 19.) 



On beholding these awkward-looking birds as, with 

 ministerial mien, they pose, seemingly for their pictures, 

 one could hardly believe with what grace and ease they 

 can soar to great heights and. hover there for hours, 

 with the facility of an Eagle or a Condor. 



When a Brown Pelican discerns a school of Men- 

 haden minnows near the surface it instantly strikes out 

 after them with a Pelican scream, which every bird 

 within hearing interprets as the call, "Dinner is now 



72 



