40 



TIIR CONDOR 



Vol. IX 



supply was exhausted or the mother thouglit he had enough, she began slowly to 

 rise and struggle to regain her upright position. The youngster was loath to come 

 out and flapping his wings, he tried in every way to hold on as she began shaking 

 back and forth. The mother shook around over ten or twelve feet of ground till 

 she literally swung the young bird off his feet and sent him sprawling over on the 

 dry tules. 



For a few moments the youngster lay dazed, then as if coming to his senses, 

 he seemed to go raving mad. I never saw such an apparent show of temper in 

 anything but a badly spoiled child. He whirled around once or twice, grasping 

 his own wing in his bill, shaking and biting it. Then seeing one or two other 

 young birds standing near, he plunged headlong at them, jabbing right and left 

 with his beak, while they rapidly retreated out of his way. By that time the 

 wrath of the youngster seemed spent, for he fell sprawled-out, and soon went 

 sound asleep in the sun. 



It is surprising to 

 see the size of a fish 

 a pelican can handle. 

 In watching among 

 the rookeries of \'oung 

 pelicans, I have often 

 seen the old birds 

 bring in fish from 

 eight to ten inches in 

 length, for they seem 

 to handle such a size 

 with apparent ease. 

 But I have also seen 

 lake trout eighteen 

 inches in length that 

 have been brought in 

 by the old pelicans. 

 Whether these big 

 fish were caught alive 

 by the old birds or 

 just picked up dead, 

 I do not know; but if 

 a pelican gobbles 

 very like a dog being 



YOUNG PELICAN, PANTING FROM THE HEAT 



down a live fish of that size, I judge the bird would feel 

 wagged by his tail. 



The white pelican is a striking mark on the water and is very statelj^ in flight. 

 While cruising the broad lakes we were often deceived when the water was calm by 

 thinking a white pelican was the distant sail of a boat. There is something so 

 misleading in the reflection and the shape of one of these birds when it is floating 

 in the sunlight far out on the surface of the water. At such a time a flock of 

 them will look, for all the world, like a squadron of white war-ships. 



It was a daily habit where the birds were nesting, for them to take an aerial 

 promenade each morning. After returning from the fishing grounds and lounging 

 about the nests for a while, the pelicans began to circle over the colon}^ in a large 

 company, rising higher and higher till they were almost lost in the blue. By 

 watching we could occasionally see the faint flashes of white as the snowy breasts 

 reflected a gleam of the sun. For hours the skj- would glitter with these great 



