PELICAN ISLAND 201 
beats, and then spread them and sailed for as many 
seconds. 
Generally they headed for the ocean, there to 
follow the line of the beach, sometimes high in the 
air, at others low over the curling surf, as their 
progress was aided or retarded by the wind. How 
far they went I can not say, but at a point ten miles 
north of Pelican Island 
many have been seen still 
winging their way to the 
northward, doubtless to 
some point where fish 
were abundant. Not 
once during the four 
days passed off Pelican 
Island did I see a Peli- 
can fishing over the sur- 
rounding waters. It was 
not because they were 
lacking in fish, for they 
contained a plentiful sup- 
ply of food; and I could 
explain the unexpected 
abstinence of the birds 
only on the supposition 
that the fish in the im- . 
mediate vicinity of the 195. Same as No. 104, seen from 
nesting ground were left 9s, slow tet to which 
for the early efforts of the 
young birds before they were strong enough of wing 
to accompany their parents to distant fishing grounds. 
Brown Pelicans fish at a height of from twenty 
to thirty feet above the water, not hovering, but 
