418 Dr. H. O. Forbes : Notes on 



reo-ion and are to be seen riding sedately, and less timidly 

 than when on their nests, in the smooth water just outside 

 the line of breakers, feeding on the life to be obtained 

 on the bottom within reach of the point of their long 

 mandibles. In searching for its food on the wing, Molina^s 

 Pelican flies heavily and slowly with its head as much to 

 wind as possible, at about forty to fifty feet above the water, 

 throbbing its tail and treading the air with its legs. At the 

 end of its beat, it wheels about quickly, descends the wind 

 and again returns, plodding slowly up against the breeze. On 

 sighting its quarry, the bird suddenly drops its head perpen- 

 dicularly seaward, as if it were fixing its prey with its eyes ; 

 it " backs water " and simultaneously descends through the 

 air by a few rapid strokes of its wings and plunges headlong, 

 or falls as it appears to the observer, into the water, striking 

 it awkwardly and with a heavy splash, almost turning a 

 somersault, which it would execute, where the water is deep 

 enough, 1 believe, were it not for its wings arresting its sub- 

 mersion, for this species at any rate does not fold them 

 against its chest like the Gannets, but cuts the water when 

 they are still half extended ; and it very rarely immerses itself 

 entirely as the European species does. When it has secured 

 its prey, the Pelican rights itself on the water, but has 

 generally to delay several minutes in properly disposing of 

 the contents of its gular pouch before taking wing again. 

 Its manffiiuvres, after a rather successfiil haul out of a dense 

 siioal of anchovitas, when sometimes it captures enough to 

 weigh down its pouch for a foot to a foot and a half, 

 are ungainly. It tosses aloft its huge beak fully agape, 

 shaking its head from side to side to tumble its contents 

 throataards. To get them properly arranged seems always 

 an awkward and difficult task, and it has often to dischai'ge 

 the whole bagful out on the sea again and re-pick them up, 

 or at least what, if it does not look very lively, the "Modest'^ 

 [Larus modestus) and the Dominican {L. dominicanus) Gulls 

 ■ — those expert and accomplished sea-roving marauders- 

 leave it, and they rarely miss a chance. One often wonders 

 whether the Pelican would not be better off without such 



