. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The White Pelican. Taken in Riverside County WHITE PELICANS OVER SALTON SEA Photo by the Author The Pelican lives upon an exclusive diet of fish, and he uses his great gular pouch as a dip-net, or scoop, rather than as a creel for transporta- tion, as was formerly supposed. He prefers little fish to big ones; and, indeed, the big fish rarely come his way, for he does not plunge from midair, after the fashion of his brown cousin, P. o. californicus.
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The White Pelican. Taken in Riverside County WHITE PELICANS OVER SALTON SEA Photo by the Author The Pelican lives upon an exclusive diet of fish, and he uses his great gular pouch as a dip-net, or scoop, rather than as a creel for transporta- tion, as was formerly supposed. He prefers little fish to big ones; and, indeed, the big fish rarely come his way, for he does not plunge from midair, after the fashion of his brown cousin, P. o. californicus. After a successful haul, the fisher bird raises his head, contracts the bellying net, or pouch, ejects the water, and swallows the catch. It sometimes happens that the bird makes a greater catch than he can handle, or, at least, greater than he has time to swallow during the rush of a successful drive. In this case he retires to shore with a full basket to effect a readjustment or to discard a clearly proven surplus. The fish are carried in the crop, and the young are fed during infancy by regurgitation. As they advance in age, however, they are allowed to thrust their greedy beaks down the parental gullet and help themselves to findings—a most shocking procedure. At nesting time the Pelicans resort in large numbers to islands, whether low-lying or more rugged, in the larger lakes; less frequently to shoals or tule barrens in overflowed areas. Not alone because of per- secution, but because of fluctuation in the water supply, these nestings are subject to greater or less vicissitudes, and in some dry seasons are 1965. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Dawson, William Leon, 1873-1928; Dickey, Donald R. (Donald Ryder), 1887-1932; Pierce, Wright M; Finley, William L. (William Lovell), 1876-1953
Size: 1896px × 1318px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
