26o 



Bird - Lore 



V 





*«.« 







BROWN PELICANS, OLD AND YOUNG, LEAVING DUNHAM'S ISLAND, TEXAS 



or more, visiting many islands that were 

 the home of numerous sea-birds. 



One of the places where we stopped was 

 Dunham's Island, at the northern extrem- 

 ity of Aransas Bay. This is merely a little 

 lump of oyster shells about a hundred and 

 fifty feet long and from fifteen to twenty- 

 five feet wide. We found it occupied by a 

 community of Brown Pelicans that were 

 engaged in caring for their young. Nearly 

 all the eggs had hatched and all the young, 

 with the exception of perhaps half a dozen, 

 were large enough to leave the island and 



swim away when we came among them. 

 Three hundred and four young were 

 counted. As these Pelican squabs moved 

 along over the shells they continually dis- 

 gorged fish vipon which they had recently 

 been fed. An examination of these showed 

 that with the exception of three individuals 

 all these fish were menhaden, which, as I 

 discovered during my cruise of the Gulf 

 Coast for the United States Food Admin- 

 istration in 19 1 8, constitutes the principal 

 food for our eastern North American Brown 

 Pelicans while in the juvenile stage. 





GROUPS OF MENHADEN DISGORGED BY YOUNG PELICANS 



