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, therefore, the parent birds went out 
into the bay to bathe, and the flapping of their 
