LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 285 



ably laid by two or perhaps three birds; some nests held only one 

 egg, and there were a few single eggs lying around on the ground or 

 under the rocks. We saw one pelican's egg in a cormorant's nest with 

 four eggs of the latter. The nests of the two species were often 

 close together, showing that they are friendly neighbors. 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1908) visited Echo Island in Salton Sea on 

 April 20, 1908, where he found an interesting breeding colony of some 

 2,000 white pelicans, the most southern colony recorded at that time. 

 He gives the following accurate description of the nests : 



The nests varied greatly in size and composition, according to location. A 

 nest on the drift line just at highest water mark was a tall, steep-sided affair, 

 like the pictures I have seen of flamingos' nests. Appropriate material was 

 plentiful, consisting of sections of plant stems, chips, and chunks of pumice. 

 Planks and railroad ties sometimes interfered with the symmetry of the nests. 

 The finer material had evidently been heaped up by the bird as she sat on the 

 nest, for the nests were often surrounded by radiating spoke-like grooves, 

 plainly bill marks. The maferial is thus pulled towards the sitter, but not from 

 a farther distance than 828 mm. from the center, beyond which the bird is 

 evidently not able to reach. The spacing of the nests In the colony, quite regular 

 in places, seems to be dependent on the reach and conflicting interests of the 

 inhabitants. The sets of eggs were never closer together than 828 mm., usually 

 1,380 mm. apart. The ground between the nests was usually absolutely clear of 

 even tlie finer fragments, these having been scraped up onto the walls of the 

 nests. On the hill slopes the nests were more scanty, for material was scarce. 

 Some were made wholly of angular pumice or dried mud fragments, some of 

 brush stems, and some of just soft earth. But their diameter was an almost 

 constant quantity, between 414 and 532 mm. The depression was 46 to 69 mm. 

 deep, so that there was nearly always a well-defined rim to the nest. The 

 higher nests, those in the drift, were mounds as much as 276 mm. tall. 



In the Klamath Lake region of southern Oregon, now a reserva- 

 • tion, the white pelicans nest in very different situations. Mr. Wil- 

 liam L. Finley (1907) has thus described their nesting sites : 



Extending for several miles out from the main shore was a seemingly end- 

 less area of floating tule islands, between which flowed a network of channels. 

 These islands furnished good homes for the great flocks of pelicans that return 

 each spring to live about these lakes and rivers that teem with fish. The 

 tules had grown up for generations. The heavy growth of each year shoots 

 up through the dead stalks of the preceding season till it forms a fairly good 

 floating foundation. On the top of this the pelicans had perched and trodden 

 down the tules till they formed a surface often strong enough to support a 

 man. But it was like walking on the crust of the snow, for you never knew 

 just when it would break through. However, these treacherous islands were 

 the only camping places we had during the two weeks we cruised the Lower 

 Klamath. We rowed on among these islands and found the pelican colonies 

 scattered along for about two miles. There were eight or ten big rookeries, 

 each containing from four to six hundred birds. Besides, there were about 

 fifteen others that had all the way from fifty to two hundred birds. The birds 

 nested a few feet apart on these dry beds, laying from one to three eggs. 



Eggs. — The white pelican raises only one brood in a season and 

 normally lays two eggs, sometimes only one and occasionally three. 



