VOl 1906 m ] Anthony, Pacific Coast Gulls. 133 



Heermann's Gull is by far the most active and successful in catch- 

 ing small fish from the surface, but as a rule will seldom attempt to 

 catch his own dinner if there are any pelicans among the delegates 

 to the convention. There are times when the herring are so thick 

 and so driven from below by the large fish that the pelicans will sit 

 on the surface and snap them up without plunging, as is their nor- 

 mal method, from a height of from ten to thirty feet in the air. If 

 the fish are swimming the deep plunge often carries the bird com- 

 pletely under the surface, and when a second later he bobs up like 

 a cork, he is sure of finding at least one, often two Heermann's 

 Gulls expectantly awaiting the result. If there are two they will 

 usually take up stations on each side and but a foot in front of the 

 pelican, which still holds its huge bill and pouch under the water. 

 It may be that the pelican does not yet know the result of his efforts, 

 for in plunging the pouch it used as a dip net and, if nothing else, 

 it is full of water, which is allowed to escape past the loosely closed 

 mandibles until, perhaps five or ten seconds after the bird made his 

 plunge, a flutter is seen in the pouch, announcing one or more 

 struggling victims. It is still an open question, however, whether 

 they will be eaten by the gull or the pelican, and the latter is seem- 

 ingly well aware that a herring in the gullet is worth two in the 

 pouch, for it will often wait several seconds for a favorable op- 

 portunity for disposing of the catch; the gulls meantime constantly 

 uttering their nasal whining note and keeping well within reaching 

 distance of the pouch. When the critical moment arrives the peli- 

 can throws the bill up and attempts to swallow the fish but, with 

 cat-like quickness, one or both gulls make a similar effort, and 

 should the fish in its struggles have thrust its tail or head past the 

 edges of the mandibles, as very often happens, it is an even chance 

 that the gull gets the prize ; in fact, I have often seen a Heermann 

 Gull reach well into the pouch and get away with a fish in the very 

 act of slipping down the throat of the pelican. I remember a very 

 amusing incident of this nature I once witnessed on the coast of 

 Lower California. The pelican, after securing a herring, ' backed 

 water' until it was supposed to be far enough from its parasite to 

 venture swallowing it, but as the huge bill was tipped up and opened 

 the gull plunged forward and thrust its entire head and neck into 

 the pouch; the pelican, somewhat quicker than most of its kind, 



