BROWN PELICAN 29 



the lower mandible and is capable of being enor- 

 mously distended. When not in use, this pouch is 

 drawn up so as to be hardly noticeable. During the 

 breeding season the upper part of the bill of the male 

 is ornamented by a horny knob, which is afterwards 

 shed. See Plate 37, Fig. 220. 



The Brown Pelican of Florida and the Pacific 

 coasts is not more than half the size of the White 

 Pelican, and has somewhat different feeding habits. 

 When in search of food, they fly slowly along, in 

 single file, twenty or thirty feet apart and fifteen or 

 twenty feet above the water, alternately flapping and 

 sailing for short distances. Catching sight of a fish, 

 a Pelican suddenly drops, after the manner of the 

 Gannet, opens the mouth to the widest extent, the 

 pouch automatically rounding into a scoop at the same 

 time, and seizes its prey. Pelicans not only swim with 

 great facility, but on the wing are almost unrivalled. 



One of the principal breeding places of the Brown 

 Pelican is Pelican Island, in the Indian River. For 

 years these birds wei*e much hunted and were in 

 danger of extinction, but owing to the efforts of the 

 Audubon Society they are now strictly protected and 

 a permanent warden is stationed on the adjoining 

 mainland to see that the laws are enforced. They 

 are consequently rapidly increasing in numbers, as 

 many as six or eight thousand birds nesting on that 

 island alone. It is low and boggy, scarcely rising 

 above the surface of the water, and at times is prac- 

 tically inundated. The few thinly scattered man- 

 grove bushes are occupied to the fullest capacity by 

 the nesting Pelicans, and others build upon the 



