BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 29 



panion saw three of these birds fly down to their decoys ; one, a fine 

 male, was shot and kindly presented to me by Mr. Thompson. From 

 the stomach of this specimen a fish known locally as " buffalo-sucker "- 

 measuring between eight and nine inches in length was taken. Mr. 

 Sennett has one or two Cormorants in his collection, captured recently 

 in the locality above-mentioned. 



FAMILY PELECANID^E. PELICANS. 



THE PELICANS. 



Pelicans are large-sized birds, with long, large, straight, rather broad and sharply 

 hooked and acute bills ; they have short stout legs and webbed feet. Below the 

 lower mandible and connected with throat is a large sac or pouch, capable of con- 

 siderable expansion ; the capacity of this pouch, which is largest in the brown peli- 

 can, will hold when distended, it is stated, over a gallon. In writing of these birds 

 Dr. Coues (Key to N. A. Birds) says in referring to the bill, ." this organ is used 

 like a dip-net to catch fish with ; when it is filled, the bird closes and throws up the 

 bill, contracts the pouch, letting the water run out of the corners of its mouth and 

 swallows the prey. Pelicans feed in two ways ; most of them, like our white one, 

 scoop up fish as they swim along on the water ; but the brown species plunges head- 

 long into the water from on wing, like a gannet, and makes a grab, often remaining 

 submerged for a few seconds. Neither species often catches large fish ; they prefer 

 small fry of which several hundred may be required forafull meal. The prevalent 

 impression that the pouch serves to convey live fish, swimming in water, to the little 

 pelicans in the nest, is untrue ; the young are fed with partially macerated fish dis- 

 gorged by the parents from the crop. As Audubon remarks, it is doubtful whether 

 a pelican could fly at all with its burden so out of trim" (Cones 1 Key). On the 

 ground they move awkwardly, but when flying they progress in a slow yet easy 

 manner by a regular flapping of the wings ; they swim gracefully. The white 

 species, it is said, like some of the Cormorants, has been tamed and taught to catch 

 fish. The nest, a bulky structure of sticks, grass, etc., according to different writers, 

 is placed usually on the ground, and sometimes in trees or low bushes ; the eggs, 

 from one to four in number, are described as a dull white, with a roughened chalky 

 shell and more or less blood-stained. Three species found in the United States in- 

 habit chiefly the temperate and tropical regions ; they frequent sea-coasts, bays, large 

 rivers, and also many of the large lakes in the interior. 



GENUS PELECANTJS LINNAEUS. 

 Pelecanus erythrorhynchos GMEL. 



American White Pelican. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length 5 or 6 feet ; extent 8 to 9^ feet ; weight is said to range from 15 to 20 pounds. 



Adult. General color pure white; primaries black; lengthened feathers of head 

 and breast light-yellow ; bill, pouch, legs and feet yellowish. 



Habitat. Temperate North America, north in the interior to about latitude 61, 

 south to Central America ; now rare or accidental in the northeastern states ; abun- 

 dant in the Middle Province and along the Gulf coast ; common on the coast of Cal- 

 ifornia and western Mexico. 



The White Pelican is a very rare and irregular visitor in Pennsylva- 

 nia. At long- intervals stragglers of this species have been observed on 

 the Delaware and Susquehamia rivers. Mr. Georg-e B. Sennett, of Erie, 



