OF THE UNITED STATES 197 



Pelicans consume myriads of small fishes, rarely large ones, 

 and they dip them up by means of the pouch just described. At 

 one time I was among the Brown pelicans for months on the 

 Bahama Cays, and it was very interesting to watch them fishing. 

 They would plunge down from on wing sometimes, and at others 

 dive while swimming on the water. By a muscular contrivance 

 they can both contract their pouch or expand it by a lateral ex- 

 tension of the sides of the jaw to which it is attached. The little 

 fishes are swallowed by the bird tossing its head backwards, con- 

 tracting its pouch, and swallowing the prey. During this act 

 the water taken up at the dive runs out at the angles of the 

 mouth. In feeding their young they disgorge into their opened 

 mouths a quantity of partially-digested fish from their crops, and 

 do not, as is commonly supposed, carry living fishes to them in 

 their pouches. Still less is it hardly necessary for me here to 

 disprove the story that a pelican feeds its young with blood from 

 its own breast such a myth may answer for the decorative pur- 

 poses of great stained-glass windows in churches, but surely the 

 truth-loving natural historian of animals finds no use for the 

 statement. Our space is too valuable here to enter into the ques- 

 tion of the many ingenious suggestions which have been advanced 

 to explain the origin of this mythical legend. We leave that to 

 others. Pelicans are both excellent swimmers and divers. Flight 

 is greatly enhanced by the air which thoroughly permeates their 

 skeletons and other parts, while their large, completely webbed 

 feet account fully for the possession of their swimming propensi- 

 ties. These birds are often kept alive in zoological gardens and 

 private parks, and those who visited Chicago at the time of the 

 World's Fair may remember the number of Brown pelicans that 

 were kept on the waters of the beautiful and picturesque lagoons 

 that formed such a distinctive feature of the magic White City, 

 now a thing of the past. 



It is quite a rare thing to see a White pelican perch in a tree, 

 though less so to see a Brown one in such a situation. Neither 

 species has any great fear of man, the White ones during flight 

 often passing close to him, or to buildings in towns and cities 

 during their migrations. After gorging themselves with food 

 they will often doze for a long time on the water, or on some sand 

 bar or similar place. Under these circumstances, if suddenly 

 sin-prised, they may be taken alive, as they rise on the wing with 

 difficulty, due not only to the state they are in, but also from the 



