. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . her re-pulsive-looking callow bird-life, to the more sightly, yet notaltogether handsome, downy stage. Still other nests wereemptv, but that their mission had not been fruitless was evi-dent from the numbers of well-gn !wn young that were runningabout in all directions. Evidently they were all but able tofly, as their wing-feathers seemed to be well grown, thoughon the bodies the feathers were still more or less downy andragged. In color thev were verv different from their parents,being o
. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . her re-pulsive-looking callow bird-life, to the more sightly, yet notaltogether handsome, downy stage. Still other nests wereemptv, but that their mission had not been fruitless was evi-dent from the numbers of well-gn !wn young that were runningabout in all directions. Evidently they were all but able tofly, as their wing-feathers seemed to be well grown, thoughon the bodies the feathers were still more or less downy andragged. In color thev were verv different from their parents,being of a lighter grav, and mainlv white on the under young pelicans afforded us quite a litti^ they evidently inherited not a little of the true peli-can gravity of demeanor, their childishness ct)uld not but showout. For one thing, they were, like most children, eminentlysocial. They made me think of gangs of boys upon the streetcorners, as they congregated here and there in groups, chat-tering away in peculiar, guttural tones, individuals falling CITIES OF THE BROWN PELICANS. THE YOUNG PELICANS IMPRO\E WITH AGE occasionally into some little dispute. Then the gang wouldscamper away, no doubt bent upon some gay prank, if,indeed, that were conceivable of such dignified creatures aspelicans, however young. On the whole, though, they seemedsedate enough to satisfy their industrious parents, who hadgone oH across the strip of hammock, or tropical jungle,to the ocean shore, there to plunge headlong into the seaand catch fish, which they would carry home in the net-likepouches to fill voung maws, doubtless, like those of otherchildren, in a chronic state of emptiness. We learned from the guide and others that it was thepelicans custom to feed their young in the morning and latein the afternoon. Strangely enough, the pelicans do not fishnear the island in the river, but, in flocks of about a dozen, 8 WILD WINGS fly across to the ocean for that purpose. Since i
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjobh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds
