loo The Ottawa Naturalist. [August 



method of ensuring the depletion of fish than that, and the 

 Grand Rapids certainly did not swarm with v/hitefish in Sep- 

 tember and October as they once did. The fish keep close to 

 the bank of the river on account of the swiftness and force of 

 the current, and slowly creep up, as it were, into the very midst 

 of the boiling tossing rapids, which it is claimed are the finest 

 rapids in the world. The salmon in the Fraser and other Pacific 

 rivers hug the shore in the same way, when ascending the swift 

 water of the canyons, the dark backs of the fish appearing above 

 the surface of the turbid water, indicating the crowds of salmon 

 at the very edge of the river. The capture of such fish is easy, 

 and I had the opportunity of seeing some of the whitefish 

 scooped up by the Indians just above the Grand Rapids Hud- 

 son's Bay Post. 



The pelicans appear to be well aware of this habit of the 

 migrating fish, for they float as a rule near the bank on either 

 side, and capture the unsuspecting whitefish just when exerting 

 all their strength and attention in battling with the descending 

 stream. 



The nesting grounds of these pelicans appear to be the dry 

 gravelly beaches of Cedar Lake, over twenty miles above Grand 

 Rapids. Their large streaked eggs, in shape like the eggs of 

 the goose, may be gathered there in numbers. Tbe pelican 

 makes little or no nest, and has the reputation of being a very 

 incompetent and neglectful parent. A common belief prevails 

 that the black cormorants, of which a few are usually seen 

 wherever the pelicans are found, sit and watch the eggs of the 

 latter when the pelican is away fishing, and in return the cor- 

 morant receives a share of the captured fish. The pelican's eggs, 

 it is said, are so exposed to the sun's rays that incubation con- 

 tinues when the parent bird is absent fishing. If the cormorants 

 mutually consort with the pelicans, and share in the spoils of fish, 

 as a return for guarding the temporarily forsaken eggs, they 



