THE PELICAN FAMILY.
PELICANS.
PELICANS.
PELICANS.
All the Birds of the Pelican family are distinguished by having the hind toe united to the others by a single membrane. Some of the group are large and heavy Birds, but they are all gifted with powerful wings, and they are, at the same time, good swimmers. Besides the Pelicans themselves, we find in this family of Birds, the Tropic Bird, the Darter, the Gannets and the Cormorants.
The Pelicans are large, heavy aquatic Birds, with great extent of wing and areexcellent swimmers; their haunts are the sea-coast, and the banks of rivers, lakes, and marshes. Whenever a Fish betrays its presence by leaping or flashing its glittering scales in the sun, the Pelican will be seen sailing towards it.
This Bird has an appetite so insatiable and a stomach so capacious that, in one day it devours as much food as would satisfy six men. The Egyptians have nicknamed it the River Camel, because it can imbibe at once more than twenty pints of water. Certainly it only makes two meals a day; but, oh, what meals they are!
Pelicans often travel in large flocks, visiting the mouths of rivers or favorite retreats on the sea-coast. When they have made choice of a suitable fishing place, they arrange themselves in a wide circle, and begin to beat the water with extended wing, so as to drive the Fish before them, gradually diminishing the circle as they approach the shore or some inlet on the coast. In this manner they get all the Fish together into a small space, when the common feast begins.
After gorging themselves, they retire to the shore, where the process of digestion follows. Some rest with the neck over the back; others busily dress and smoothe their plumage, waiting patiently until returning appetite invites them to fresh exertions. When thus resting, occasionally one of these Birds empties his well-lined pouch, and spreads in front of him all the Fish that it contains, in order to feed upon them at leisure.
In spite of its great size, the Pelican flies easily and to considerable distances. It does not dive but will occasionally dash down on Fish from a considerable height, and with such force that it becomes submerged; but its buoyancy instantly brings it again to the surface. It perches on trees, but seems to prefer rocks.
The nest is generally formed of coarse, reedy grass, lined with softer material and placed in the clefts of dry rocks near the water. Occasionally they will lay in an indentation in the ground which they have previously roughly lined with blades of grass.
The Pelican is more common in tropical regions than in temperate climates. They are very numerous in Africa, Siam, Madagascar, the Sunda Isles, the Philippines; and in the Western Hemisphere they abound from the Antilles to the northern temperate part of the North American continent. They haunt the neighborhood of rivers and lakes and the sea-coast.
The best known species are—first, the Crested Pelican; second, the White Pelican; third, the Brown Pelican; fourth, the Spectacled Pelican.
The Crested Pelican in common with the White Pelican, inhabits the southeast of Europe and Africa, and is also found in Hungary, Dalmatia, Greece, the Crimea, and the Ionian Islands, as well as in Algeria, and, according to some authors, it is frequently met with in China.
It has white plumage, with the exception that the ends of the feathers of the back and wings are black. The feathers of the head and upper part of the neck are twisted up so as to form a large tuft or crest, hence the name it bears. Its European home is principally the marshes round the Black Sea.
Of their modes of life travelers in those regions give very interesting descriptions.
“Nowadays,” says W. H. Simpson, “a solitary individual may be seen fishing here and there throughout this vicinity; the remnant have betaken themselves to the neighboring islands. Here, towards the end of February last, the community constituted a group of seven nests—a sad falling off from the year before, when thirty-four nests were grouped upon a neighboring islet.
“As we approached the spot in a boat the Pelicans left their nests, and taking to the water, sailed away like a fleet of stately ships, leaving their nursery in possession of the invader. The boat grounded in two or three feet of mud, and when the party had floundered through this, the seven nests were found to be empty. A fisherman had plundered them that morning, taking from each nest one egg, which we afterwards recovered. The nests were constructed in a great measure of old reed palings (used by the natives for enclosing Fish) mixed withsuch pieces of the vegetation of the islet as were suitable for the purpose. The seven nests were arranged in the shape of an irregular cross, the navel of the cross, which was the tallest nest, being about thirty inches high, the two next in line being about two feet, and the two forming the arms being a few inches lower, the two extremes at either end being about fourteen inches from the ground. The eggs are chalky, like others of the Pelican family, very rough in texture.”
The White Pelican is as large as a Swan. Its bill is about fifteen inches in length. Its plumage is white, with a slightly rosy tint, the crest and a few feathers on the neck yellowish.
It is very common on the lakes and rivers of Hungary and southern Russia, as well as on the banks of the Danube. A wild rocky shore, where it can look down on the sea, is the favorite haunt of this Pelican; but it is not uncommon for it to perch on trees. The nest is formed of coarse reedy grass, with a lining of finer quality; it is generally made on the ground, and is about eighteen inches in diameter, in which it lays four, sometimes five, white eggs, but more frequently two, slightly oblong, and alike at both ends. Fish forms its principal food, which it captures chiefly in shallow inlets, as it is an indifferent diver. Occasionally its flight is lofty, but generally close to the surface of the water.
The Brown Pelican is an American species, smaller than the preceding. It has the head and the neck variegated with white and ash-color; all the rest of the plumage of a brownish grey, with white marks on the back; the pouch is of an ashy blue, striped with a red hue. It is found on the coasts of Peru, Florida and South Carolina.
Although heavy-looking on the wing, this species is capable of performing flights of immense distance, and to a certain extent may be considered migratory. In winter they are seldom seen beyond the edge of the tropics, but in summer they are frequently found as far north as the thirty-sixth degree of latitude. Extremely wary and difficult of approach, they are seldom shot, although persistently pursued by fishermen, on account of the immense damage they do to the spawn and young Fish.
They are also possessed of the greatest powers of vitality, and resist death when pierced with wounds so serious that they would inevitably kill any other species.
From this circumstance doubtless they receive the name of Die-hards from the residents that dwell on the margin of the Gulf of Mexico. When disabled from taking flight, their courage in defending themselves from an assailant is as remarkable as that of the Bittern; but being possessed of superior size and strength to the latter Bird, the Brown Pelican can successfully resist the strongest Dog.
Like the other species of this genus they live in small communities of twenty or thirty members, and build their nests upon the ground closely adjoining each other, and the utmost good fellowship, almost affection for each other, exists between them. The young Birds remain with their parents till the spring following their birth, the old ones driving them off to seek new homes, when the advance of the season tells them that they must provide a home for a coming family. As inmany other races, the plumage of the young is much darker and less handsomely marked than in the adults. From frequent persecution, the Brown Pelican has of late years much diminished in numbers.
The Spectacled Pelican, which is only found in southern climates, is thus named from the naked skin which surrounds its eyes, giving the Bird the appearance of having on a pair of spectacles. Its plumage is white, and in habits and mode of life it closely resembles the previously described species. One of its principal haunts is along the southern coasts of China, especially in the vicinity of the mouth of the Canton river, and on the bays near it. The Chinese regard them as sacred, and nothing would induce them either to rob them of their eggs or young.
Longevity is reported to be one of their characteristics. A very old mandarin, living on the margin of Meers’ Bay, once pointed out a Spectacled Pelican, that he said he could remember since his childhood. This Bird was partially tamed; for although it went long distances to fish, it always returned to his village to pass the night.