370 THE WHITE PELICAN 



can, were forced southward, some in Europe, some in Amer- 

 ica, but whether at the same time or not is unknown. 



Should some swing of the temperature pendulum ever 

 re-establish the pre-glacial polar climate, the European and 

 American Pelicans, following in the wake of an advancing 

 favorable isotherm, may meet again on the shores of the Po- 

 lar Sea, whether as two species or one, who can say, but in 

 the meantime we look on them with special interest as but 

 slightly differentiated from the bird which fished in the Arc- 

 tic Ocean before, so far as we know, man appeared upon the 

 scene. 



The White Pelican 's congeners in America are the dist- 

 antly related Brown Pelican and its southern representa- 

 tive, the Chilian Pelican. Both are maritime birds of tropi- 

 cal shores. The former is abundant on the Florida coast, 

 and ranges northward to the Carolinas; while on the Pacific 

 side, where it appears with a reddish, instead of olive pouch, 

 it is found regularly as far north as San Francisco and even 

 Point Reyes. Both are only one-half as heavy as the White 

 Pelican, which, with a weight of sixteen pounds, a wing ex- 

 panse of eight and one-half feet, and a body of greater pro- 

 portions than its weight would imply, may claim to be one of 

 the largest of North American birds. 



The adaptability to climatic conditions to which possibly 

 the White Pelican owes its continued existence, in the face 

 of changes to which doubtless many other birds have suc- 

 cumbed, enables it to thrive in widely separated and totally 

 unlike portions of our country. The presence of this bird in 

 Saskatchewan, for example, indicates that it more closely 

 approaches the home of its assumed Arctic ancestor, than is 

 commonly supposed. In truth, White Pelicans go as far 

 north as Great Slave Lake, at latitude 61 degrees, each year, 

 though their most northern known nesting-place is Fort 

 Smith in latitude 60 degrees. Nor are these the only birds 

 of their kind in this region, British America, east of tin* 

 Kockies, as far at least as Shoal Lake, forty miles northwest 



