62 



come of a study of the food of these birds in the neighbourhood of the 

 Gaspe salmon rivers. 1 Though commonly accused of damaging the salmon 

 fisheries by devouring the small fish and fry, careful examination of about 

 thirty specimens showed that the hundreds of birds present were eating 

 fish of no economic value and no salmonoid remains were found in them. 

 Probably the eels, sculpins, and other fish taken by the Cormorant make 

 the species beneficial rather than harmful to the salmon, and probably 

 more than compensate for the few valuable fish that it occasionally takes. 

 This is a good example of the caution that is necessary before condemning 

 any species of birds. 



FAMILY PELECANID.E. PELICANS. 



General Description. Large bird with a very long, flattened bill and enormous throat 

 or gular pouch. 



Distinctions. The enormous throat pouch, holding a gallon or more, and the long 

 flattened bill are always diagnostic. 



These extraordinary birds are of too rare occurrence in eastern Canada 

 to be specifically dealt with here. There are two species that have been 

 occasionally taken, the White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos a western 

 form, that may be looked for towards the Manitoba boundary and westward, 

 but in the east only as stragglers; the Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, 

 a southern bird of only accidental occurrence in Canada. The descriptive 

 names are sufficiently explanatory to differentiate them. The White 

 Pelican is practically pure white with black wing tip in all plumages; any 

 other pronounced colours are indications of other species. 



Order Anseres. Sieve-billed Swimmers. Lamellirostral Swimmers. 



General Description. Swimming birds with four toes and two webs, having bills with 

 a hooked or flat nail at the tip and furnished with tooth-like projections or thin laminae 

 on the sides (Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, p. 19) through which they strain the water from their 

 food. 



Distinctions. As above. 



Field Marks. The outstreched neck, obvious tail, and rapid wing beats of the ducks 

 and geese are familar to most of us. In the water some species bear superficial resemblance 

 to the divers, but the straight, narrow, unduck-like bills of the latter, the obvious tails of 

 the ducks and their general readiness to fly instead of diving when disturbed should make 

 differentiation easy. 



Nesting. Usually on ground, sometimes in hollow trees, and rarely in deserted crow's 

 and other large nests, but seldom far from water. The young are able to run about and 

 take to water as soon as hatched, but how they are brought to the ground from a tree 

 nest some 20 or 30 feet in the air is a subject upon which a considerable difference of opinion 

 exists. 



Distribution. The Anseres are of world-wide distribution. In America the great 

 majority of the species breed north of the International Boundary. They can, therefore, 

 be regarded as birds of northern distribution. In winter some few remain in Canada as 

 long as there is open water and others journey south, even to the warm waters of the Caro- 

 linas, the gulf of Mexico or beyond. 



The order Anseres contains but one family Anatidce composed of the 

 Mergansers, Ducks, Geese, and Swans, and comprises, therefore, the great 

 bulk of the larger wild fowl pursued by sportsmen. One of the greatest 

 sources of confusion in distinguishing the various species is the occurrence 



^'The Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, and its relation to salmon industries on the gulf o 

 St. Lawrence", Dept. of Mines, Geol. Surv., Can., Mus. Bull. No. 13, Biological Series No. 5, 1915. 



