Mar., 1907 



AMONG THE PELICANS 



39 



chick just out of the egg, but it was done with apparent ease. The parent regur- 

 gitated a fish}^ soup into the front end of its pouch and the baby peHcan pitched 

 right in and helped himself out of this family dish. As the 3^oung bird grew older 

 and larger, at each meal time he kept reaching further into the big pouch of his 

 parent until finallj^ when he was half grown, it was a remarkable sight. The 

 mother opened her mouth and the whole head and neck of her nestling disappeared 

 down her capacious maw while he hunted for his dinner in the internal regions. 



In this wide area of low islands and water, it was necessary, since we wanted 

 to study the pelicans at close range, to adopt some method of hiding. So taking 

 our large wagon-umbrella covered with a piece of green canvas that hung down 

 around the sides, we planted it among the tules at the edge of one of the largest 

 colonies and covered the top well with reeds. While we both remained in the blind, the 

 pelicans were slow in returning, but when one of us departed, the old birds seemed to 

 think we had both gone and soon began sailing in to feed the young. 



I sat under the umbrella and reeds with my reflex camera pointing out thru a 

 slit in the canvas. There were four or five hundred young pelicans bunched along on 

 the platform of tules only a few yards aw^ay. A few minutes later the first old bird 

 pitched awkwardly in 

 and alighted near by 

 and several young 

 birds waddled for- 

 ward to meet her. 

 She caught sight of a 

 piece of partly dried 

 fish that had been 

 disgorged, grasped it 

 in her bill and tossed 

 it away before one of 

 the youngsters could 

 grab it. One of tli; 

 other birds rushed for 

 it, but she was ahead 

 and threw it as far as 

 she could again, and 

 the third time she 

 tossed it over in the tules where it could not be reached. 



Just then another mother dropped into the nursery and she was besieged by 

 several ravenous children. Each began pecking at her bill, trying to make her 

 feed them. But she moved off in apparent unconcern, or perhaps she was making 

 some selection as to which one to feed. She waddled about till one of the young- 

 sters began a series of actions that were very interesting. He fell on the ground 

 before the old bird, grunting and flapping his wings as if he were in the last 

 stages of starvation. Still the mother did not heed his entreaties and the youngster 

 suddenly got well and began pecking at her bill again. The old bird backed up as 

 if she were getting a good footing and slowly opened her mouth to admit the bill 

 of the little pelican. She drew her neck up till the ends of the upper and lower 

 mandibles were braced against the ground and her pouch was distended to the 

 limit. Jonah-like, down the mother's throat went the head and neck of the child 

 till he seemed about to be swallowed had it not been for his fluttering wings. He 

 remained buried in the depths for about two minutes, eating everything he could 

 find. Nor did he withdraw from the family cupboard voluntarily, but when the 



IN TFIE SWIM AT AN EARLY AGE 



