A Recent Instance of the Occurrence of the White Pelican ( Pelecanus 
erythrorhynchos) in Massachusetts. — I have an adult male White Pelican, 
in full nuptial plumage with well-developed ‘centre-board/ which Dr. 
Lombard C. Jones of Malden, Massachusetts, was kind enough to secure 
for me some four years ago, soon after it had been skinned and mounted by 
Robert Bazin, a Malden taxidermist. It was taken at Sandwich, Massa- 
chusetts, possibly on the 12th, but almost certainly on the 13th, of May, 
1905, by George W. Kuntz (or Kounze) of Sandwich. He gave it to Eugene 
Haines (also of Sandwich and familiarly known to Dr. Jones) who sent it 
in the flesh to Dr. Jones by whom it was received on May 17 and immediately 
placed in the hands of the taxidermist already mentioned. I bought it a 
week or two later from Mr. Haines, through Dr. Jones, and it was deposited 
in my collection on May 31, while the skin was still ‘green’ and enshrouded 
in its winding of cotton thread. Mr. Haines reported that Mr. Kuntz (or 
Kounze) had found the bird lying dead among some beach grass whence 
he traced its large footprints backward across the beach to the water’s 
edge; here it must either have alighted or — as is perhaps more probable — 
swam ashore, before seeking the slight shelter afforded by the spot which 
came so near being its final resting place. These data are all attested by 
letters and other memoranda received by my assistant, Mr. Walter Deane, 
in May and June, 1905, from Dr. Jones, who appears to have had most of 
his information from Mr. Haines. There is a newspaper clipping, how- 
ever, pasted in one of the letters and inscribed (evidently by Mr. Deane) 
“Boston Post, 1905,” which reads as follows: — “Pelican found at Sand- 
wich. Sandwich, May 17. — A strange sight was witnessed here on 
Friday, when a large pelican was found on the beach here by Mr. Kounze, 
who gave it to Eugene Haines. It measured 8 feet from tip to tip of its 
strong wings. Its bill was over 18 inches long, and the pouch underneath 
would hold two or three gallons. Whether it followed some other birds 
from its far-away home, or whether it was blown towards these shores in a 
hurricane, none can tell. Mr. Haines will have it mounted and placed on 
exhibition.” 
This brief note is, as far as I am able to learn, the only published record 
that has hitherto appeared of the bird to which it relates. It will be 
observed that the name of the man who found the Pelican was here printed 
“ Kounze,’ not “Kuntz,” as it is written by Dr. Jones; while it is necessary 
to point out further that the “Friday” immediately preceding May 17, 
1905, fell, according to the calendar for that year, on May 12, instead of on 
the 13th, which Dr. Jones regards as the correct date. As he is careful to 
express doubt in one of his letters concerning the accuracy of his spelling 
of the name, that given by the Sandwich correspondent of the ‘Post’ is 
perhaps to be preferred ; but with respect to the date, Dr. Jones is, without 
question, the better authority of the two. He has just written me (Febru- 
ary 23, 1909) : “I am sure you will make no mistake in accepting the data 
which I obtained at the time, in accordance with the request of Mr. Deane, 
for I certainly fixed the date then as accurately as possible .... and the 
evidence I obtained was from Mr. Haines to whom the bird was given by 
the finder.” — William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 
Auk 26, Apr-ly09,p, 
