282 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



to the fullest extent. Like other cormorants it is strongly impelled 

 by curiosity to fly out to meet an approaching boat and to circle 

 about it several times, though generally a little beyond gunshot 

 range. While flying about an intruder or when its home is invaded 

 it sometimes utters a loud, guttural and rolling note or croak, but as 

 a rule it is a peculiarly silent bird. 



Winter. — After the breeding season is over, in September, the red- 

 faced cormorants leave their breeding grounds to wander about the 

 shores of Bering Sea, as far south as the Aleutian Islands, during 

 the wdnter months. Even the severe winter storms which rage so fu- 

 riously among those desolated rocky islands fail to drive this species 

 from its inhospitable home, where it proves a blessing to the hardy 

 natives. During severe winters when other bird life is scarce these 

 birds are much in demand for food and furnish a convenient supply 

 of fresh meat for soups and stews; the flesh of the young birds may 

 be fairly palatable, but the old birds could hardly be tolerated if 

 anything else were obtainable. 



Dr. E. W. Nelson (1883) says: 



These birds appear to be a fitting accompaniment of the bleak, barren coast 

 found so frequently along the northern sbore of Bering Sea. The dark cliffs, 

 with scarcely a trace of vegetation, and the cold rocks, relieved here and 

 there by banks of snow in the ravines, are rendered still more wild and in- 

 hospitable in appearance by the presence of these large, awkward, sombre- 

 colored birds, which circle silently back and forth in front of their cliffs, 

 fitting inhabitants of the remote and cheerless wilds where their home is 

 made. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Bering Sea region. On the Pribilof Islands, 

 perhajDs on the western Aleutian Islands, on the Commander Islands, 

 and on the coast of northeastern Siberia as far north as North 

 Cape. Breeding grounds protected in the Pribilof Reservation, 

 Alaska. 



Winter range. — From the vicinity of the Pribilof, Aleutian, Com- 

 mander, and Northern Kurile Islands, southward to Japan and 

 Formosa. 



Casual records. — Ranges to Norton Sound (Saint Michael) and the 

 Diomede Islands. 



Egg dates. — Aleutian and Pribilof Islands: Four records, June 

 17 to July 7. 



Family PELECANIDAE, Pelicans. 



PELECANUS ERYTHRORHYNCHOS Gmelin. 



AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 



HABITS. 



The day we reached Big Stick Lake, after a 30-mile drive over 

 the rolling plains of Saskatchewan, was cold and blustering; the 



