54 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



on the continental divide. Wagner (Abh. Math.-Phys. CI. Kon. 

 Bayer. Akad. Wiss., vol. 10, 1866, pp. 86, 88) verified these observa- 

 tions of Garella. Pelicans are not restricted in transisthmian journeys 

 to the depression at the Canal Zone, as on occasion they cross else- 

 where, even where the land is high. Charles O. Handley, Jr., in- 

 forms me that on March 15, 1959, while on Cerro Mali, near the 

 head of the Rio Pucro in Darien, he saw a flock of 8 pelicans en 

 route from the Atrato basin in Colombia to the head of Rio 

 Tacarcuna, bound evidently for the Pacific. They were flying at an 

 elevation of about 2,000 meters. 



While brown pelicans fish mainly on salt water they follow channels 

 at the mouths of the larger rivers inland, usually at ebb tide, and 

 may be found then to the head of tidewater. 



Nesting is somewhat irregular but appears to come mainly from 

 January to April. On Isla Taboga, in 1952, I found well-grown 

 young on February 3, and later, on March 15, I collected a set of 

 one-fourth incubated eggs. In 1955 they had not yet come to the 

 colony to nest on December 24. In 1960, at Isla Pacheca, several 

 birds were on their nests on January 20, and others were colonized 

 on Isla Galera on January 28. At Isla Bona, March 31, 1962, I 

 noted nearly grown young still in the nest and others only recently 

 on the wing. Maj. Gen. G. Ralph Meyer collected eggs ranging from 

 fresh to slightly incubated on Isla Chame on February 15, 1942, 

 and freshly laid eggs February 21, 1943. The nests are broad, ir- 

 regular platforms of fair-sized twigs, 400 to 750 mm. across, 

 strongly made, though not especially thick. The 2 or 3 eggs in a 

 set are chalky white, rough-shelled, and usually marked with blood, 

 sometimes heavily when first laid. Stain usually increases as in- 

 cubation progresses. In form the eggs are somewhat more pointed at 

 either end than subelliptical. Measurements of two sets of two, and 

 two sets of three eggs from islas Chame and Taboga are as follows : 

 Length 72.2 to 76.8 mm.; width 48.8 to 51.4 mm., average 74.4 by 

 50.2 mm. 



Fishermen and others have told me that they know of no nesting 

 colonies of pelicans on the Caribbean coast of Panama, the nearest 

 to the north of which I have found record being on Isla Contoy, off 

 the coast of Quintana Roo. In the opposite direction, I was informed 

 in 1941 that these birds nested on rocky islets off Santa Marta, 

 Colombia, but I was not able to verify this. However, there may 

 be breeding places nearer at hand, since on February 20, 1958, at 

 Boca del Drago, I saw one young pelican that obviously had not 

 been long away from parental care. 



