THE BROWN PELICAN. 37 



At all periods the Brown Pelican keeps in flocks, seldom amounting to 

 more than fifty or sixty individuals of both sexes, and of different ages. At 

 the approach of the pairing time, or about the middle of April, the old 

 males and females separate from the rest, and remove to the inner keys or to 

 large estuaries, well furnished with mangroves of goodly size. The young 

 birds, which are more numerous, remain along the shores of the open sea, 

 unless during heavy gales. 



Now let us watch the full grown birds. Some skirmishes have taken 

 place, and the stronger males, by dint of loud snappings of their bill, some 

 hard tugs of the neck and head, and some heavy beats with their wings, have 

 driven away the weaker, which content themselves with less prized belles. 

 The females, although quiet and gentle on ordinary occasions, are more 

 courageous than the males, who, however, are assiduous in their attentions, 

 assist in forming the nest, feed their mates while sitting, and even share the 

 labour of incubation with them. Now see the mated birds, like the citizens 

 of a newly laid out town in some part of our western country, breaking the 

 dry sticks from the trees, and conveying them in their bills to yon mangrove 

 isle. You see they place all their mansions on the south-west side, as if to 

 enjoy the benefit of all the heat of that sultry climate. Myriads of mosqui- 

 toes buzz around them, and alight on the naked parts of their body, but this 

 seems to give them no concern. Stick after stick is laid, one crossing 

 another, until a strong platform is constructed. Now roots and withered 

 plants are brought, with which a basin is formed for the eggs. Not a nest, 

 you observe, is placed very low; the birds prefer the tops of the mangroves, 

 although they do not care how many nests are on one tree, or how near the 

 trees are to each other. The eggs, of which there are never more than 

 three, are rather elliptical, and average three inches and one-eighth in length, 

 by two inches and one-eighth in their greatest breadth. The shell is thick 

 and rather rough, of a pure white colour, with a few faint streaks of a rosy 

 tint, and blotches of a very pale hue, from the centre towards the crown of 

 the egg. 



The young are at first covered with cream-coloured down, and have the 

 bill and feet disproportionately large. They are fed with great care, and so 

 abundantly, that the refuse of their food, putrid and disgusting, lies in great 

 quantities round them; but neither young nor old regard this, however offen- 

 sive it may be to you. As the former grow the latter bring larger fish to 

 them. At first the food is dropped in a well macerated state into their 

 extended throats; afterwards the fish is given to them entire; and finally the 

 parent birds merely place it on the edge of the nest. The young increase 

 in size at a surprising rate. When half fledged they seem a mere mass of 

 fat, their partially indurated bill has acquired considerable length, their 



