202 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



flying slowly about, and without a moment's pause 

 plunging on their prey with a force which would 

 produce serious results if the bird's breast were not 

 well padded with cellular tissue between the skin 

 and the flesh. 



I observed that when the young birds struck at 

 me the movement was accompanied by a widening 

 or bowing out of the sides of the lower mandible, 

 and it is doubtless the same muscular effort which 

 turns the pouch of the diving Pelican into a scoop 

 net, as it were, with an elliptical ring.^"^ 



By sunrise most of the fishers appeared to have 

 departed, and at this time, whether because of the 

 absence of so many of the adults or because it was 

 their breakfast hour, a swarm of Fish Crows came 

 from the mainland, apparently from both sides of 

 the river, seeking what they might devour in the 

 way of eggs or young Pelicans, and departing after 

 several hours' feasting. 



About eight o'clock the fishers began to appear, 

 coming, as they went, in dignified lines, which broke 

 up as they reached the island, each bird going to its 

 young. Then the outcry began, and the ensuing two 

 hours were the noisiest of the day. 



Pelicans are so well able to supply the wants of 

 their families that, unlike smaller birds who bring 

 to their ever-hungry broods only a mouthful at a 

 time, they are not forced to feed their young at short 

 intervals throughout the day, but the morning meal 

 concluded, they do not again have to provide for 

 their nestlings until afternoon. Immediately after 

 breakfast, tlievePore, the parent birds went out 

 into the bay to bathe, and the flapping of their 



