298 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



objectionable morsel must be removed by the parent or left to be 

 gradually swallowed as the lower end is digested. The parents evi- 

 dently know their own young and attempt to drive away others in 

 the w^ild scramble which follows the arrival of a pelican with a well- 

 filled pouch. Young pelicans reared in tree nests remain in the nests 

 until nearly ready to fly, which simplifies the feeding problem for 

 their parents, but where they nest on the ground the young leave 

 the nests as soon as they are able to walk and wander about in great 

 droves. This makes the work of the parents both difficult and 

 strenuous and many an exciting struggle occurs in which the poor 

 parent is besieged by a hoard of lusty young, fully her equal in size, 

 and either overwhelmed by the excited mob or forced to retreat. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1908) describes in this connection an 

 interesting performance which I have never witnessed, as follows: 



The parent does not, of course, always have to fight its way through a mob 

 to feed its offspring. Often only a bird or two is to be driven off and on 

 such occasions the rightful young assist, the method of attacli employed by 

 both being thrusts of the bill from which no harm appears to follow. The 

 actions of the rejected young bird are remarkable. With an only-sou air 

 he prances confidently up to the food-bearing adult and without so much as by 

 your leave attempts to insert his bill. When, however, he receives a blow 

 where he expected a fish, his demonstrations of disappointment are uncon- 

 trolled. He acts like a bird demented, swinging his head from side to side, 

 biting one wing and whirling around to bite the other in the most ludicrous 

 manner. 



It is inexplicable that the same performance, in an exaggerated degree, is 

 gone through with by the bird which has been permitted to feed, after it emerges 

 from the parent's pouch. For a moment it seems dazed, perhaps because of 

 lack of air as well as by the size of the meal it has secured. It lays its 

 head on the ground as though it had received a violent blow, but soon this 

 apparent semiconsciousness is followed by the most violent reaction as the 

 bird arising to its feet grasps its wing, waves its head and behaves in the same 

 crazy way as the bird which has been denied a meal. Possibly this surprising 

 exercise may aid the bird in swallowing, when the same exhibition after the 

 bird has attempted and failed to get a meal, should be considered the result of 

 suggestion. 



His account in the same chapter of the ceremony of nest relief, 

 which I have never seen, is also worth quoting. 



Brown pelicans do not differ in color sexually. It is impossible, therefore, 

 to determine by external appearance the sex of the sitting bird. Observation 

 from a blind, however, reveals the fact that both sexes incubate, the change 

 of places being usually preceded by an interesting little performance which I 

 have called the Ceremony of Nest Relief. As a rule the bird on the nest is not 

 attended by its mate, who may be feeding, bathing, resting on the shore, or 

 sailing high in the air. The returning bird alights near the nest and, with 

 bill pointed to the zenith, advances slowly, waving its head from side to side. 

 At the same time the sitting bird sticks its bill vertically into the nest, twitches 

 its half-spread wings, and utters a low. husky, gasping chuck, the only note I 

 have ever heard issue from the throat of an adult wild brown pelican. After 



