THE WHITE PELICAN 373 



worthy of his most ardent endeavor ; while to the ornithol- 

 ogist, it goes without saying, it is species of exceptional in- 

 terest. When, therefore, I add that my own pursuit of this 

 splendid bird has been made in the dual role of naturalist 

 and photographer, it may be imagined that a chase which 

 has covered parts of a period of six years has brought me no 

 small amount of pleasure and, I may add, at times a corre- 

 sponding measure of disappointment. Eventually, how- 

 ever, I reaped the reward which generally comes to most of 

 us if we are given enough time in which to try for it. 



My first visit to the home of the White Pelican resulted 

 disastrously for the bird and bade fair to end my experien- 

 ces with its kind in the first chapter. It was on Shoal Lake, a 

 treacherous bit of water, some thirty miles long, lying be- 

 tween lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba. While encamped on 

 its shores, during June, 1901, 1 was led to believe that White 

 Pelicans seen daily were nesting on a small bar or ' * reef ' ' 

 reported to exist five or six miles out in the lake, too far to be 

 visible from land. The only boat available was a punt, hard- 

 ly large enough for two passengers, and designed to push 

 around in the quill reeds, which grow densely at the border 

 of the lake. It was long past the age when retirement from 

 service was its too obviously withheld due, but the lure of 

 the great white birds minified its defects ; the voyage was 

 made, the island reached and the birds found. 



I had now no doubt of the success of my attempt to pho- 

 tograph these before unpictured creatures, and to study 

 their habits under unique conditions. A group containing 

 six of the twenty-seven nests on the islet was selected, and 

 an umbrella blind was concealed in a small patch of reeds 

 growing in a foot or two of water. I entered it, focussed my 

 camera on the nearest nests, on which in imagination the 

 birds were already sitting, and waited. At the end of an hour 

 the birds returned, wheeled over the island at a considerable 

 height, evidently took in the situation and disappeared to 

 return no more. 



