Mar., 1907 



AMONG THE PELICANS 



37 



fifty feet, we found one hundred and ninety nests, containing about three hun- 

 dred birds and half as many eggs not yet hatched. 



That night we camped opposite the cormorant rookery and just below what is 

 known as the crater. The next day we rowed on south past Rattlesnake Island. 

 In the afternoon we made camp across from another large rookery where the cor- 

 morants and pelicans were nesting. This island held two hundred and fifty cor- 

 morant nests — about two hundred and seventy-five young birds and two hundred 

 eggs. The cormorant nests were built up of sticks, but the pelicans simply made 

 a depression in the sand for their eggs. 



This was the only colony of pelicans we found after cruising for two weeks on 

 Tule I^ake, altho we had seen a flock of several hundred birds that fished about the 

 Take and roosted together at night on one of the sandbars. They were very likely 

 last year's birds and being immature, had not yet begun to nest. 



When we crossed over to Tower Klamath Take, we found it very different 

 from the south end of Tule Take, where we had fairly good places to camp. Ex- 

 tending for several miles out from the main shore was a seemingly endless area of 



IIERU OF YOUNG PELICAXs; XOTE THE TULE-THATCH ED BEIND AT RIGHT, FROM WHICH 

 THE CAMERA WAS OPERATED IN OBTAINING MORE INTIMATE EIFE-STUDIES 



floating tule islands, between which flowed a network of channels. These islands 

 furnished good homes for the great flocks of pelicans that return each spring to 

 live about these lakes and rivers that teem with fish. The tules had grown up for 

 generations. The heavy growth of each year shoots up thru the dead stalks of the 

 preceding season till it forms a fairly good floating foundation. On the top of this 

 the pelicans had perched and trodden down the tules till they formed a surface often 

 strong enough to support a man. But it w^as like walking on the crust of the snow, 

 for you never knew just when it would break thru. However, these treacherous 

 islands were the only camping places we had during the two weeks we cruised the 

 Tower Klamath. 



We rowed on among these islands and found the pelican colonies scattered 

 along for about two miles. There were eight or ten big rookeries, each containing 

 from four to six hundred birds. Besides, there were about fifteen others that had 

 all the way from fifty to two hundred birds. The birds nested a few feet apart on 

 these dry beds, each laying from one to three eggs. 



The pelican season begins in April after the snow and ice ha\'e melted, and 



