BIENNAL REPORT 
00 
and about all that can be said in extenuation is that the lish are for the most 
part small and of no commercial value. That it may be a considerable annoyance 
to fishermen where pound nets are employed will be evident to any one who will 
spend a little time observing the conditions at a place like Lake of the Woods. 
Lhe Cormorants are there to be seen perched constantly on the stakes holding the 
nets and the fishermen claim that they dive after the fish and follow them into the 
pound where they not only frighten the fish so they become entangled in the nets 
but injure many of saleable size by gashing them in the sides with the sharp hook 
on the end of the bill. However, it may be said that during several days spent 
with the fishermen around the lake, the writer saw no fish thus injured. The Cor¬ 
morants are said to pay frequently for their actions with their lives, for they are 
usually unable to get out of the trap and when the fishermen find them there they 
make short shrift of them. At the Lake of the Woods the eggs are destroyed and 
the birds killed whenever occasion presents and the former considerable population 
has been greatly reduced. Investigations elsewhere by the Canadian Government 
showed that the Cormorants of the lower St. Lawrence River did little if any 
damage to game or commercial fish. But it will be seen that it might be rather 
difficult to make out a clear case for these birds with those who take purely a utili¬ 
tarian view of the situation. It may be argued whether it is ever wise entirely to 
exterminate any animal except the most vicious and dangerous and few if any 
birds are to be included in this category. Cormorants, like the Loon and Herons, 
interest many people and certainly add a note of wildness and fascination to the 
places they inhabit. 
PELICANS ( Pclecanidae ). 
The great White Pelican was once a common summer resident in this state. 
It nested on the ground in large colonies at various places, chiefly in the west¬ 
ern half of the state. Pelican Point in the southern portion of Heron Lake was 
the scene of one of these annual gatherings until sometime in the seventies. The 
last pelicanry in Minnesota of which the writer has any knowledge was in 1S78. 
T'he location was on the low prairie along the Mustinka River, Grant County, 
a few miles west of Herman. A visit to the spot in June, 1879, found it deserted 
but evidences of the occupancy of the year before were plainly visible. This 
pelicanry was a nine-day wonder to the inhabitants of the region and the frequent 
visits of curious and meddlesome parties of men and women forced these always 
wary birds to seek a safer domicile in a place more remote. East of the Rockies 
the species now nests rarely within the United States. Small parties passing to 
and fro give evidence that it still exists though in greatly diminished numbers. 
The food of the Pelican consists of fish which this white species catches by 
driving them into shallow water and scooping them up with its great pouched 
bill. The southern Brown Pelican plunges clumsily from the air and seizes sur¬ 
face feeding fish. 
DUCKS, SWANS AND GEESE. ( Anathiae ). 
Including three more or less accidental species there are twenty-five kinds of 
Ducks found in Minnesota and of these seventeen breed in the state. Four species 
of Geese with three additional subspecies occur and one of these, the Canada 
Goose, may still breed occasionally. One species of Swan still occurs as a migrant. 
