BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
29 
panion saw three of these birds fly down to their decoys ; one, a fine 
male, was shot and kindly presented to me by Mr. Thompson. From 
the stomach of this specimen a fish — known locally as ‘‘ buffalo-sucker ” — 
measuring* between eig*ht and nine inches in leng*th was taken. Mr. 
Sennett has one or two Cormorants in his collection, captured recently 
in the locality above-mentioned. 
Family PELEGANID.^. Pelicans. 
THE PELICANS. 
Pelicans are large-sized birds, with long, large, straight, rather broad and sharply 
hooked and acute bills ; they have short stout legs and webbed feet. Below the 
lower mandible and connected with throat is a large sac or pouch, capable of con- 
siderable expansion ; the capacity of this pouch, which is largest in the brown peli- 
can, will hold when distended, it is stated, over a gallon. In writing of these birds 
Dr. Coues {Key to N. A. Birds) says in referring to the bill, “ this organ is used 
like a dip-net to catch fish with ; when it is filled, the bird closes and throws up the 
bill, contracts the pouch, letting the water run out of the corners of its mouth and 
swallows the prey. Pelicans feed in two ways ; most of them, like our white one, 
scoop up fish as they swim along on the water ; but the brown species plunges head- 
long into the water from on wing, like a gannet, and makes a grab, often remaining 
submerged for a few seconds. Neither species often catches large fish ; they prefer 
small fry of which several hundred may be required for a full meal. The prevalent 
impression that the pouch serves to convey live fish, swimming in water, to the little 
pelicans in the nest, is untrue ; the young are fed with partially macerated fish dis- 
gorged l?y the parents from the crop. As Audubon remarks, it is doubtful whether 
a pelican could fly at all with its burden so out of trim” — (Cones' Key). On the 
ground they move awkwardly, but when flying they progress in a slow yet easy 
manner by a regular flapping of the wings ; they swim gracefully. The white 
species, it is said, like some of the Cormorants, has been tamed and taught to catch 
fish. The nest, a bulky structure of sticks, grass, etc., according to different writers, 
is placed usually on the ground, and sometimes in trees or low bushes ; the eggs, 
from one to four in number, are described as a dull white, with a roughened chalky 
shell and more or less blood-stained. Three species found in the United States in- 
habit chiefly the temperate and tropical regions ; they frequent sea-coasts, bays, large 
rivers, and also many of the large lakes in the interior. 
Genus PELECANUS Linnaius. 
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmel. 
American White Pelican. 
Description. 
Length 5 or 6 feet ; extent 8 to 9^ feet ; weight is said to range from 15 to 20 pounds. 
Adult. — General color pure white; primaries black; lengthened feathers of head 
and breast light-yellow ; bill, pouch, legs and feet yellowish. 
Habitat. — Temperate North America, north in the interior to about latitude 61®, 
south to Central A merica ; now rare or accidental in the northeastern states ; abun- 
dant in the Middle Province and along the Gulf coast ; common on the coast of Cal- 
ifornia and western Mexico. 
The White Pelican is a very rare and irregular visitor in Pennsylva- 
nia. At long intervals stragglers of this species have been observed on 
the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Mr. George B. Sennett, of Erie, 
