136 



TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS — STEOANOPODES. 



•I 



that must have been ten inches long ; but no small lish. Two specimens were seen 

 about ten years ago in the Hay of Fundy, near St. John. One was killed, mounted, 

 and placed in the collection of that city. A Hock of seven is reported as having been 

 seen in the St. Croix Kiver in August, 1874, by Captain Worcester, of St. Ste])hens, 

 N. B. Mr. J. A. Allen informs me that thirteen White Pelicans were seen a few yeai's 

 ago on Nantucket, near liraiit Point Lighthouse, one of them having been killed ; and 

 Mr. Sfaynard states that about the same time several of these birds were seen near 

 Ipswich, Mass. This species is now of irn^gular appearance on the New England 

 coast, although it is said to have been formerly not uncommon. 



Heiny Gillman, of Detroit, records (■' Naturalist," X. 758) the capture, June 15. 

 1870, of a remarkably fine specimen which was shot in a marsh near Sarnia, Ontario, 

 by Captain Oliver Maisonville. It was a nuile of unusually large size, weighing 

 thirty-three pounds. It had been very active, wandering over the marsh all day, 

 swimming about, or only rising for a short flight, and then alighting again in the 

 water. No fish were found in its pouch, and only a few small worms and insects in 

 its ston)ach. 



Dr. Cooper speaks of this species as being common on the coast of California in 

 winter, though few reach San Diego. It was fouiul in the Gulf of California ; and 

 on the 5th of April, 18G1, he saw a large flock of two hundred or more })assing 

 northward over Fort iMojave, the motion of their Avings sounding like the rush of a 

 meteor through the air. They stopped, and circled around the fort, their white plum- 

 age glistening in the sunshine, all moving simultaneously, as if under military orders, 

 and occasionally uttering a croaking sound ; then forming a wedge-shaped column, 

 with skirmishers on their flanks, they moved on toward the north, flapping and sailing 

 alternately, and as uniformly as if by word of command. When at Lake Tahoe, over 

 six thousand feet above the level of the sea, Sept. 12, 18G3, Dr. Cooj)er saw a flock 

 of these birds, apparently a mile above the lake, flying directly on an air-line course 

 from Great Salt Lake to San Francisco, showing that their residence in the interior 

 lasts about five months, although it may probably continue longer when their fish- 

 ing resorts are not frozen over. He did not notice this bird at Lake Tahoe, although 

 Dr. Newberry mentions haviii , seen one in summer at Klamath Lake. On Sejtt. 12, 

 1805, Dr. Cooper found immense flocks of this species in the lagoons along the coast, 

 twenty-six miles south of Stockton. They arose from their resting-places among the 

 groves with a sound like that of the distant surf, and circled about in a majestic 

 manner, performing various evolutions in the air with the accuracy of a regiment 

 moving under command. The attraction at that season was the low state of the 

 waters, which aiforded them an opportunity of obtaining an abundance of the cypri- 

 noids inhabiting those lagoons. 



Colonel Grayson mentions this Pelican as being occasionally seen in large flocks 

 on Kio Mazatlaii, in Western Mexico; but it is not resident there, being seen only in 

 the winter months, and not remaining long in that locality. 



According to Air. Salvin, this bird was obtained by Mr. Skinner on the Pacific 

 coast of Guatemala. Mr. Salvin afterward himself visited the west Ijoast of Central 

 America, where he found the lagoons frequented by large flocks of White Pelicans. 

 When first seen they were feeding in the lagoon, and he tried in vain to obtain 

 a specimen. He noticed that this bird soars much more than the Brown species ; 

 and he frequently observed it doing this after the manner of the Vulture, and 

 mounting in gyrations until almost out of sight. After a while, gradually descend- 

 ing, it would fly off to a lagoon to feed. He estimates that there must have been 

 nearly a thousand iudivid\ials in the flock which he saw ; and the noise they made 



