PELICANS, CORMORANTS, AND PETRELS. 255 



Boreali-Americana"), states that in the fur countries 

 they " deposit their eggs usually on small rocky 

 islands on the banks of cascades where they can 

 scarcely be approached, but still are by no means shy. 

 They live together generally in flocks of from six to 

 fourteen, and fly low and heavily, sometimes abreast, 

 at others in an oblique line ; and they are often seen 

 to pass close over a building, or within a few yards 

 of a party of men, without exhibiting any signs of 

 fear." 



Their food is fish principally, but other forms of 

 animal life are not refused by them. 



J. K. Lord, describing the white pelicans as he saw 

 them in British Columbia, says, seeing for the first 

 time their breeding-grounds, " Their nests were on 

 the ground amidst the rushes, . . . simply a con- 

 fused heap of rushes with a lot of down and feathers 

 in the centre. On the water these huge birds swim 

 as easily, buoyantly, and gracefully as swans ; and in 

 fishing do not swoop down from a height as does the 

 brown pelican, but thrust their heads under water 

 and regularly spoon up small fish with their im- 

 mense pouched beaks." 



The Brown Pelican is said by Ridgway to belong 

 properly to the " coasts and islands of the Gulf of 

 Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including West Indies ; 

 north, regularly, to North Carolina." Beyond that all 

 occurrence is " accidental," and I wish a great many 

 more " accidents" would occur in the course of 

 nature ; it would 'liven up matters considerably. 



Moseley, in his " Naturalist on the ' Challenger,' " 

 says that as the ship steamed into the harbor of the 



