490 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 56. 



The average of these measurements is 79.9 by 55.6. Forbes fomid 

 an average of 83.7 by 55.7. 



The young bu-ds are bare of feathers, and, as I observed them at 

 the Lobos islands, with black, dark blue or purple skins, but Forbes 

 says * they " are of a pale flesh-color, thus differing markedly from 

 those of the brown pelican {P. fuscus) which, according to Chapman, 

 are livid black." They are of some size before the white downy 

 covering is acquired. The birds are nearly full grown before the 

 first feathering appears on the wings and back. (See pi. 68, fig. 2, show- 

 ing an old bird and young in several stages.) The young about this 

 time seem to be substantially larger than the adults in almost all 

 dimensions.^ A young bird just attaining the stage of flight from 

 the nest is shown in the illustrations (on plate 69). The very 

 dark brown or fuscous coloring of head, neck, back, and sides is 

 conspicuous. The rump is lighter in color while the belly is nearly 

 white. There is yet no sign of the white forehead and neck stripe 

 of the adult. This bird was kept as a pet for several weeks. 



The season of nesting is almost uninterrupted, though less active 

 during the winter months of May to September. In March and 

 AprU, 1907, the rookeries at Lobos de Afuera contained thousands 

 of eggs and young in all stages. On June 18 of the same year, 

 young nestlings just beginning to feather were observed on an islet 

 near the North Chincha Island. The Lobos de Afuera islands were 

 again visited in December, when the large rookeries were filled with 

 eggs and very young nestlings. 



In the south the only active rookeries noted were on two islets 

 near the North Chincha Island; although numerous evidences of 

 abandoned pelican rookeries were observed on various islands of the 

 Chincha and Ballestas groups, on San Gallan, and on the Santa Rosa 

 Islands at the Bay of Independencia. At the latter place, I was 

 informed by a fisherman that, a few years before, a guano extractor, 

 finding the young pelicans in the way, had herded them and driven 

 them over the cUff. Examinations of the beach at the base of the 

 cHff revealed thousands of skeletons of young pelicans with other 

 debris. 



In the autumn of 1907 (March), at Lobos de Afuera, a rookery many 

 acres in extent (pi. 63, fig. 1) occupied the northern point of the east- 

 ward island, and a small islet to the north of it. It was estimated that 

 there were about 100,000 birds. During the following v/inter this was 

 entirely broken up by the extraction of guano. At the beginning of the 

 next summer (December) there were numerous (six or more) small rook- 

 eries scattered over this island and containing in all about 2,000 nests; 



1 Forbes, Henry O. Notes on Molina's Pelican {Pelecanus thagus). The Ibis, ser. 10, vol. 2, No. 3, 

 London, July, 1914, pp. 403-420 [p. 416). 



» The grown young are normally somewhat heavier. Several fully mature pelicans weighed 12-14 

 pounds, a very old and thin bird weighing only 9i pounds. A young specimen had a weight of 16 pounds. 



