1875.] 167 [Bendire. 



Here is a large spring coming right out from the hills, having a 

 gravelly bed. It is the only place on the lake where the water is 

 sweet anil palatable. The shore here swarms with a species of sucker 

 about eighteen inches long, and red on the sides. I camped a night 

 there, and this kept the birds away in the day-time. At sun-down 

 they began to collect, first by tens, then by fifties, and in a short 

 while there was a string of them one hundred and fifty yards long, at 

 least, and from four to six deep. The leader, evidently much bolder 

 than the rest, moved up several times to within thirty yards of our 

 boat, followed by a few, but something about the look of the boat did 

 not please them, and the larger portion moved back again, the main 

 body keeping about a hundred yards in the rear. Finally they all 

 came nearer, and the boat losing its terrors, they moved all round it. 

 For so many birds they kept singularly quiet; an occasional grunt 

 from one, resembling the word dooe, was about all I could hear. 

 They appeared to divide themselves into parties of about thirty, who 

 acted in concert, forming a semicircle, gradually closing in towards 

 the shore and driving the fish with them, and as soon as they had 

 them in the shallow Avater about one and one-half feet deep and less, 

 they all went for them, and such a splashing I have seldom heard. I 

 watched them for several hours, and often had them within fifteen 

 feet of me. The fish they catch are all from twelve to eighteen 

 inches in length, and the dexterity with which they handle them is 

 surprising. Very few get away from them. Dead fish they do not 

 care for, and will not touch. They are not quarrelsome, and I have 

 seldom seen a more interesting sight than I did the night I watched 

 these birds. The color of their bills varies a good deal, some being 

 of a very dark orange-red color, others nearly straw -yellow. The 

 centre-boards also vary in length, height, and general shape. The 

 nest is a mere hollow scratched in the sand. Their nesting place was 

 perfectly alive with fleas, and the aroma by no means a well flavored 

 one." 



May 27th the lake was again visited: " The pelicans are thicker 

 than ever. I could have gathered a wa^on load of their e<ro;s on the 

 island where I first found them, April 16th. Quite, a number of the 

 the eggs were quite fresh. Two of the largest measured 3.99 by 2.20 

 in., and 4.01 by 2.19 in. I find that the usual number of eggs 

 laid by the pelican is two. I saw but few nests with three or four 

 eggs this time. I also noticed a few birds without any centre-board, 



