The California Brown Pelican 



colony of unresisting Quakers. Those bills might be terrible if they were 

 plied in righteous indignation. The challenge of those great throats, if 

 they were fiercely vocal, might rouse us to a corresponding fury. But 

 this placidity is disarming. "I guess we've got enough, boys." 



The nests are, some of them, amazingly large and high — doubtless 

 the accumulations of succeeding seasons. Many I saw which were two or 

 two and a half feet in height, while most of them were a foot or more. 

 Some, however, were very scanty; and a few, mere handfuls of trash. The 

 material used varied considerably, but might be described as a vegetable 

 miscellany, with sticks, a few, or decayed stalks of the carrot-weed 

 {Leptosyne gigantea) for a basis. While the birds evidently approve of the 

 shade'afforded by the Leptosyne, the advantages of such shade are often 



Taken on Anacapa Island 



^ THE SOUTHEAST COLONY, FROM ABOVE 



Photo by the Author 



offset by the difficulty which the birds experience in taking off; so that the 

 most thick-set section of the carrot-weed was not occupied. It is notice- 

 able, also, that the birds almost invariably face downhill in sitting — 

 doubtless to facilitate taking off. 



At the time of our visit (March 8th, 1922), incubation was for the 

 most part advanced, though fresh eggs were common enough for our 



jq8o 



