THE WHITE PELICAN 



375 



were not provisioned for a siege, but before the situation be- 

 came unpleasant, the wind fell, shifted in our favor, and we 

 readied the mainland to the no small relief of those await- 

 ing us. 



Nine days later, I made the trip again, but only to find 

 that the Pelicans' eggs had been eaten, doubtless by Gulls, 

 six pairs of which were also nesting on the island. The ex- 

 perience was not only thoroughly disappointing, lint sadly 



Pelican's Nest, Shoal Lake 



enough it induced three young ornithologists to venture to 

 the same "reef" two years later in search of Pelicans' eggs. 

 Less fortunate than we were, they encountered one of the 

 violent storms so characteristic of the region, and when 

 still far from the islet their boat filled, and two of them were 

 drowned. 



The change from the mosquito-infested sloughs and lakes 

 on the prairies of showery Manitoba to the desert sage- 

 brush, and mountains of arid Nevada is so great that but 

 few birds are common to both regions. Pelicans, however, 



