148 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



Along with his fish-hook the pelican always car- 

 ries with him a fish-basket. Nor was he ever 

 known to forget it, and leave it at home. This 

 fish-basket might be a traveling-bag or a reticule 

 sewed to the under lip. The beak opens and 

 closes like the clasp-handle of a satchel or valise. 

 This pouch, or bag, or Saratoga trunk, or what- 

 ever you may call it, holds, when well packed, 

 several quarts or pounds. It is capable of stretch- 

 ing almost indefinitely when necessary, and col- 

 lapsing when empty. 



The brown pelican plunges into the water for 

 fish, like the kingfisher. The birds carry the fish 

 in their bag until it can hold no more, when they 

 fly to some convenient place on the shore, open 

 their basket and take a lunch. When fishing, the 

 pelican has an odd way of throwing the head 

 back, so the water may run out of the corners of 

 the mouth. It is inconvenient to carry as much 

 water as fish. When a brown pelican is off on a 

 fishing excursion, it flies above the water with its 

 head turned to one side, looking into the briny 

 deep with one eye, as you have seen a mocking- 

 bird or shrike do from its perch. It makes a droll 

 picture 



The basket-throat of the pelican is not unlike 

 the pouch-cheek of a squirrel or a gopher. Each 



