6 The Wilson Bulletin. 



ing appeared heavy and labored; and the act of catching a 

 fish, by dropping down upon it from above, is so very awk- 

 ward and heavy that one would expect to see grief come to 

 the bird rather than to the fish. Flying above the water, 

 say at thirty feet, a pelican seeing a fish on the surface be- 

 low, literally falls, with dangling wings, down upon its prey 

 below, not after the manner of a tern or gull, but with sheer 

 abandon and main force, frequently turning a complete som- 

 ersault in the effort. Such a heavy fall would doubtless re- 

 sult in broken bones were it not for the fact that the birds 

 invariably strike the water upon their breasts, which, being 

 provided with a heavy padding of cellular tissue, afford the 

 necessary protection. Apparently the pelicans seldom failed 

 to secure fish when making these "falls," the resulting thuds 

 of which could be heard at the distance of several hundred 

 yards, the water being struck with such force that it seems 

 probable, in some cases, that the fish are stunned thereby, 

 rendering capture easy. Upon reaching the water, the div- 

 ing pelican at once begins scooping about with its capacious 

 pouch for the fish. A muscular lunge forward of the neck 

 seems to extend the sides of the lower mandible, the skin 

 of the pouch being stretched to its fullest capacity to form 

 a natural scoop net. When a pelican secures a fish in its 

 pouch or between its mandibles, the head of the bird is 

 thrown backward, the bill pointing upward, and with a strug- 

 gling, twisting movement of the neck, as if with great effort, 

 the fish is swallowed. The water which is scooped up along 

 with the fish apparently remains in the pouch, and does not 

 stream out at the corners of the bird's mouth, as stated by 

 some writers. It flows out at the point of the bill when the 

 head is inclined downward again, after the fish is swallowed. 

 When searching for fish, the pelicans did not hover above 

 the water, but flew slowly and awkwardly about, executing 

 the tumbling dive or "fall" when the fish were sighted be- 

 low them. 



At the Port Tampa Hotel the water line comes up to the 

 kitchen, which is raised above the water by posts, upon a 



