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 Mar., xSo7 AMONG THE PELICANS 39 chick just out of the egg, but it was done with apparent ease. The parent regur- gitated a fishy SOUl) into the front end of its pouch and the baby pelican pitched riglit in and helped himself ont of this family dish. As the young bird grew older and larger, at each meal time he kept reashing further into the big pouch of his parent until finally when he was half grown, it was a remarkable sight. The mother opened her month and the whole head and neck of her nestling disappeared down her capacious maw while he hunted for his dinner in the internal regions. In this wide area of low islands and water, it was necessary, since we wanted to study the pelicans at close range, to adopt some method of hiding. So taking onr large wagon-umbrella covered with a piece of green canvas that hung down around the sides, we planted it among the rules at the edge of one of the largest colonies and covered the top well with reeds. While we both remained in the blind, the pelicans were slow in returning, but when one of us departed, the old birds seemed to think we had both gone aud soon began sailing in to feed the young. I sat nnder the nmbrella and reeds with my reflex camera pointing out thrn a slit in the canvas. There were four or five bundred young pelicans bunched along on the platform of rules only a few yards away. A fexg minntes later the first old bird pitched awkwardly in and alighted near by and several yonng birds waddied for- wnrd to meet her. She cangbt sight of a piece of partly dried fish that bad been disgorged. grast)ed it .. _. . '' , in her bill and tossed it away before one of the vonngsters could -. grab it. One of th other birds rnshed for .e... ,. it, but she was ahead and threw it as far as she could again, and N THE S,rIM AT Ai' EARI, AGE the third time she tossed it over in the tnles where it could not be reached. Jnst then another mother dropped into the nursery and she was besieged by several ravenous children. Each began pecking at her bill, trying to make her feed them. Bnt she moved off in apparent unconcern, or perhaps she was making some selection as to which one to feed. She waddled about till one of the young- sters began a series of actions that were very interesting. He fell on the grotand before the old bird, grunting and flapping his wings as if he were in the last stages of starvation. Still the mother did not heed his eritreaties and the yomagster snddenly got well and began pecking at her bill again. The old bird backed np as if she were getting a good footing and slowl:v opened her mouth to admit the bill of the little pelican. She drew her neck up till the ends of the tipper and lower mandibles were braced against the grotand and her pouch was distended to the limit. Jonah-like, down the mother's throat went the head and neck of the child till he seemed abont to be swallowed bad it not been for his fluttering wings. He remained buried in the depths for about two minutes, eating everything he cotaid find. Nor did he withdraw from the family cupboard vohmtarily, but when the