lowing iitateaent from Ji. Hollister, 8ux»erintendent of the national 
Zoological Par*. Washington, D. 0., (written Harch 19, 1919) is of in- 
terest: "The Brown Pelioans in th® national Zoological Pari oat each 
from on® to one and & half pounds of fish per day. That this is enough 
to jcoep th® birds in excellent condition, even in th® large flight cage 
whe ® they get plenty of exercise, is shown by the fact that two speci- 
mens received from Orlando, Florida, depteober 6, 1899, are still living 
in good health after twenty years of such scanty diet. Another specimen 
from Mexico has been here eight years." * ' j • 
*C* 4| • jl _ M ' k j* w Kyy ' . c - w 1 4 . v . - i i •-*% ■ 8 * 
i 
It can hardly be believed th^t birds in (a wild et^te would con- 
« ■ * . w — *■ r IV * ,* • ! . mf - - » . 1 - 
Bocae much more* Certainly a maximum of two pounds per day would be amplfc 
t 
for birds at freedom whore they sooured constant exercise. ^ith thie fact 
in view the estimates of fish consumed by palioens, whether such fish are 
of value as food or not must be greatly cut down. 
Serious complaint has been made in recent yo&re that Brown Pelicans 
in Florida were responsibly, for the maffeed decrease in food fishes and many 
have protested again? the protection afforded the birds In their breeding 
oolonies on bird reservations. Complaint was made especially that they 
were responsible for the merited lessoning in the oatoh of mullet. 
Inquiry among fisherman revealed that opinion was about evenly di- 
vided in regard to the alleged damage so that as many of these men con- 
sidered that pelicans were not injurious os there were that believed the 
*_• ‘Cj . * l Ay** 11 • n •< J" v- ^ T ^ • i , t "V 
reverse. The majority of fish useful for )nm;n food are ajwoies that nor- 
nelly swim deep whore pelicans cannot reach them. The mullet is the only 
one that habitually mins in shallow water. In field observation it was 
found that these fish were so swift and alert that it was seldom that 
