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AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 
hollow guttural sound sdmewhat resembling that produced by blowing 
through the bung-hole of a cask. 
The White Pelicans appear almost inactive during the greater part of the 
day, fishing only soon after sunrise, and again about an hour before sunset ; 
though at times the whole flock will mount high in the air, and perform 
extended gyrations in the manner of the Hooping Crane, Wood Ibis, and 
Vultures. These movements are probably performed for the purpose of 
assisting their digestion, and of airing themselves, in the higher and cooler 
regions of the atmosphere. Whilst on the ground, they at times spread 
their wings to the breeze, or to the rays of the sun ; but this act is much 
more rarely performed by them than by the Brown Pelicans. When walk- 
ing, they seem exceedingly awkward, and like many cowardly individuals 
of our own species, are apt to snap at objects which they appear to know 
perfectly to be so far superior to them as to disdain taking notice of them. 
Their usual manner of flight is precisely similar to that of our Brown spe- 
cies. It is said by authors that the White Pelican can alight on trees ; but 
I have never seen a single instance of its doing so. I am of opinion that 
the ridge projecting from the upper mandible increases in size as the bird 
grows older, and that it uses that apparatus as a means of defence or of 
attack, when engaged with its rivals in the love-season. 
The number of small fishes destroyed by a single bird of this species may 
appear to you, as it did to me, quite extraordinary. While I was at General 
Hernandez’s plantation in East Florida, one of them chanced to pass close 
over the house of my generous host, and was brought dead to the ground. 
It was not a mature bird, but apparently about eighteen months old. On 
opening it, we found in its stomach several hundreds of fishes, of the size 
of what are usually called minnows. Among the many which I have at 
different times examined, I never found one containing fishes as large as 
those commonly swallowed by the Brown species, which, in my opinion, is 
more likely to secure a large fish by plunging upon it from on wing, than a 
bird which must swim after its prey. 
This beautiful species, — for, reader, it is truly beautiful, and you would 
say so were you to pick it up in all the natural cleanness of its plumage, 
from the surface of the water, — carries its crest broadly expanded, as if 
divided into two parts from the centre of the head. The brightness of its 
eyes seemed to me to rival that of the purest diamond ; and in the love- 
season, or the spring of the year, the orange-red colour of its legs and feet, 
as well as of the pouch and bill, is wonderfully enriched, being as repre- 
sented in my plate, while during the autumnal months these parts are pale. 
Its flesh is rank, fishy, and nauseous, and therefore quite unfit for food, unless 
in cases of extreme necessity. The idea that these birds are easily caught 
