The Cormorants 127 



along the shore, and diving occasionally, one after the other, when they meet with 

 a shoal of fish. They are very regular in their motions when flying, keeping at 

 uniform distances, alternately flapping and sailing in imitation of their leader. 

 They usually fly very close to the surface of the water, and then merely plunge 

 obliquely, holding the bill so as to scoop up the small fish sideways; then, 

 closing their wings, they hold up the head with the bill down so as to allow 

 the water to run out. This permits the escape of some of the fish, and 

 gives the parasitic .Gull a chance to obtain a share of the plunder, without in 

 the least offending the dignified Pelican. Sometimes this bird dives from a con- 

 siderable height, plunging downward with a spiral motion, although scarcely 

 ever going beneath the surface, but immediately raising its bill from the water 

 usually with a stock of young fish in it. As a general rule this Pelican does not 

 catch fish more than six inches long; but occasionally one weighing more than 

 two pounds and a half may be found in its pouch." 



Mr. F.M. Chapman in his " Bird Studies with a Camera " and other places has 

 given an entertaining account of a visit to the breeding grounds of this species 

 in the Indian River region of Florida, where they are now under government 

 protection. He found many hundreds of nests containing either eggs or young 

 in various stages of growth. The young were fed but twice a day, the old birds 

 leaving at dawn for the fishing grounds, often many miles away, flying in the 

 above-described regular manner, returning to the nests about eight o'clock. In 

 feeding them they alighted by the side of the young birds, opened the bill and 

 permitted them to help themselves. The old birds then bathed in the adjacent 

 water, or preened their feathers while disposed in long lines on the sand-bars, or 

 sailed for hours high overhead. By the middle of the afternoon they left for a 

 second trip to the fishing grounds, "and after the resulting catch has been 

 delivered to the clamoring young, the Pelican's day's work is over." 



Other species feed in a somewhat different manner. Selecting shallow water, 

 they dispose themselves in long lines, at about equal distances apart, and regu- 

 larly and systematically fish backward and forward until satisfied. I have ob- 

 served the White Pelican (P. erythrorhynchos] doing this on the Yellowstone 

 Lake in the Yellowstone National Park. 



As may have been gathered from the above statements, Pelicans nest in com- 

 munities, usually on an island. The nest is a very rude affair, consisting of a 

 quantity of earth, gravel, and rubbish heaped together to a height of a few inches. 

 The eggs vary in number from one to three or four, the former apparently being 

 the usual complement. They are pure white, with the shell rough and chalky, 

 and often blood-stained. 



THE CORMORANTS 



(Family Phalacrocoracidx) 



This family is by far the largest of the order, containing, in fact, a greater 

 number of species than all the others combined. It is also a very old family, for 

 some ten fossil forms have been characterized, of which two are from the lower, 



