BIKD KEY 87 



When a pelican goes fishing he carries nothing but a dip 

 net, which is a pouch suspended from his under mandible. 

 Flying along twenty-five or fifty feet above the water, 

 when he detects a suitable fish near the surface he quickly 

 checks his flight and ends his outgoing trip with a sudden 

 downward plunge and a great splash. As the bird strikes 

 the water the sides of the under mandible 

 bow outward to serve as the bails of 

 the net, and the great pouch 

 scoops in the desired 

 fish. Down 

 comes the up-' 



per part of the bill, the sides of the lower 

 close in, the pouch contracts, and the water 

 is squeezed out. 



A brown pelican's bill is twelve or thir- 

 teen inches long, and is armed at the ex- 

 tremity with a sharp hook. The amount the pouch is 

 capable of holding is something astonishing. I once 

 poured fifteen quarts of water into one, the pouch dis- 

 tending sufficiently to hold it all. 



Another visitor which comes to Bird Key in far greater 

 numbers than either the pelican or cormorant, is the man- 

 of-war bird. They love to gather here after they have 

 reared their young on some of the islands of South Florida 



