FEEDING HABITS OF PELECANUS ERTTHRO- 
RHTNC HOS. ■ 
BY N. S. GOSS. 
Naturalists that have not seen the White Pelicans upon their 
feeding grounds, have without doubt read Audubon’s interesting 
description of the manner in which the birds unite and drive the 
fishes into shallow water, where they can catch them, which they 
cannot well do in deep water, as their skins are honeycombed 
with air cells that buoy them up like a cork, and prevent their 
diving, * and they do not plunge for their food when upon the 
wing, like their cousins, the brown Pelicans, and therefore have 
to adopt fishing habits suited to shallow waters. I have often 
noticed the birds in flocks, in pairs, or alone, swimming on the 
water with partially opened wings, and head drawn dovvn and 
back, the bill just clearing the water, ready to strike and gobble 
up the prey within their reach ; when so fishing, if they ran into 
a shoal of minnows, they would stretch out their necks, drop 
their heads upon the water, and with open mouths and extended 
pouches scoop up the tiny fry. Their favorite time for fishing 
on the seashore is during the incoming tide, as with it come the 
small fishes to feed upon the insects caught in the rise, and 
upon the low forms of life in the drift, as it washes shoreward, 
the larger fishes following in their wake, each from the smallest 
to the largest eagerly engaged in taking life in order to sustain 
life. All sea birds know this and the time of its coming well, 
and the White Pelicans that have been patiently waiting in line 
along the beach, quietly move into the water, and glide smoothly 
out, so as not to frighten the life beneath, and, at a suitable dis- 
tance from the shore, form into line in accordance with the sinu- 
osities of the beach, each facing shoreward and awaiting their 
leader’s signal to start. When this is given, all is commotion ; 
the birds, rapidly striking the water with their wings, throwing it 
high above them, and plunging their heads in and out, fairly 
make the water foam, as they move in an almost unbroken line, 
filling their pouches as they go. When satisfied with their 
catch, they wade and waddle into line again upon the beach, 
where they remain to rest, standing or sitting, as suits them best, 
until they have leisurely swallowed the fishes in their nets ; 
then, if undisturbed, they generally rise in a flock, and circle for 
a long time high in air. 
Off the south coast of Florida (a coral formation) the shoal 
water often extends out for miles, and the tide is scarcely percep- 
tible. There the birds have no occasion to drive, but gather their 
food by coursing, and in such places the Brown Pelicans, so 
expert in dropping upon their prey in deep water, are forced, in 
order to save their necks unbroken, to feed in like manner; this 
is especially noticeable in the shallow ponds in the Everglades. 
Several years ago, in the month of September, I had the pleasure 
of observing a small flock of the birds fishing in the Neosho 
River, Kansas. When late at evening they were forced by tired 
wings to stop in their southward flight, the place selected was in 
still deep water, at the head of a fall, or rapids, in the stream, 
where the water for some fifteen rods, and with a depth of about 
six inches, was rippling and dashing over the rocks, a natural 
feeding ground for the fishes. The birds, after first bathing and 
dressing their feathers, giving particular attention to their pri- 
maries, without any unity of action, as hunger moved them, 
floated down over the rapids, picking up the fishes here and there, 
until the still water below was reached, when they would rise 
and fly back, to float down again, leisurely repeating this mode 
of fishing until it was quite dark. 
*The statement in ‘ North American Birds — Water Birds,’ Vol. II, page 13 7, that this 
species “dives with great celerity ” must be an error. 
V. Jan, 1888. p.25-27. 
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