| Show of Doors in the West Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau fit J. H. Professor of Nature Study in the University of I. A Trip to Bird Island in Great Salt Lake The American White Our Tiny Blue when interested rs j in I happened to a party of fourteen who days and nights near t of on the waters of Salt Captain ft of took us fifty-foot and ti fondled this with great ability in IT kind of and H. W. G. Mervin Frank ind Walter Jennings com-he We explored the of America to our on all the 1 rocks and plants irom and above the birds and took ns of their eggs for the ty We en-great rolling and for twenty-four r into the water ere seasick for a day four ight in a boat by a ed all night to regain the saved by the little Evan Steph ens few minutes and 1 The writer wis when taken with a pain side while swimming by action of Professor who plunged in with a particular attention to habits of the Marvelous er visit last week was members of the Union Board of The marvelous to those you read South is a to whom the sight boat arrived at Bird J brush-M with beaches of rn rocks or of gray and gulls air and covered the rocks long v-shaped lines ot pelicans and floated majestically on steadily beating motionless great blue herons stood out like picturesque statues the higher or slowly rose in graceful flight above our The water was covered with the swimming from their rocky coverts the air resounded with their shrill cries in places the sky was obscured by their Young in droves resembling floundered clumsily over the trying to reach the young barely able to walk or struggled limping from their large willow-built and became entangled in the The writer freed one of hopelessly ensnared where it might have Many of the adult in their comical and needless stood on the rocks with heads thrown back and bills uttering long and continuous while the brownish of an scrambled over the injuring themselves in their rush for The White native Pelicans are birds of the with wings largely an enormous bill much larger than the the lower mandible bearing a large pouch of naked used as a fish net for carrying fish to their young from the They often drive fish into shallows and then scoop them into their wide They ride on the water like squadrons of white or soar in splendid flight like a fleet of air-ships of the newer The full grown bird is from 44 to nearly 6 feet in the wings expanding from to nearly 10 the weight is about 17 Pelican nests observed by the writer were usually located in depressions in the sand or on Hat rocks that in places cover the rugged surface of Bird They were lined with a thin layer of sticks and leaves and from one to several white The plumage changes with the but was mainly white in Flock of Young White Pelicans on Bird Island The Dots on the Water Beyond are Gulls Photograph by Fred J. University of the larger wing feathers mainly The back of the head bore a thin yellowish crest and there were yellowish feathers on the breast and lesser wing Besides the great hanging from the lower part of the the upper or top half of the toward the outer bore an blunt Those Comical As we walked about the the young pelicans various sizes congregated into small looking for all the world like flocks of sheep and when a short distance They were only half and such plumage as they mostly but in places was more like wool than And how awkwardly these frightened youngsters ambled about and jostled each other in their attempts to keep away from us When once they reached the water they were all and sailed as gracefully over the briny lake as if they had long been practicing the art of Some of them had never been in the water yet knew how to swim without One little that we placed in the water was so puzzled by the change from the warm rocks to the that for a long time he lay upon the just flowing and locking like a but finally discovering his a few movements of these webbed he started off along the Food of the On this bare island there is no though the tiny lake-gnats abound in millions at the water's as in many other lakeside These gnats the great birds did not seem to eat at and as to any other food on the the thorny greasewood is practically the only though these bushes are numerous and of large size How are the young pelicans Fish lying in heaps at various points along the tell the The parent birds fly on their strong wings to the chiefly to the mouth of the Weber or the Bear I the nearest fresh-water which are perhaps twelve miles There the which are expert eat all the fish they and then fill their enormous pockets with others and fly with this load in their bill-pouches to empty it upon the rocks of Bird Island for the young to feed I think that the blue herons and the gulls purloin some of this free food for their own though bring food from the mainland for their There is no fresh water to be had on Bird The only moisture the nestlings can get is that which is contained in their solid food or that which may be regurgitated for them from the mouths of the parent All these birds may feed their young to some extent in this but I have neither observed the process nor heard of it from But as many birds do regurgitate food for their it may be that the herons and gulls supply their young with some moisture in this Curiosities Worth Pelicans are curiosities in zoological gardens in the but are somewhat numerous nesting also in Utah lake on Rock and perhaps elsewhere on the islands of interior lakes throughout the In many cases they have been driven away from their old nesting and we are in real danger of losing them altogether unless can prevent further interference with their nesting It will be worth while to save Their spring and fall migrations are known to most people They come up from the southern parts of Arizona and from a greater Their appearance when flying overhead or when pausing to feed and refresh themselves' is' the cause of very great wonderment among the people who are not acquainted with the their expert fishing methods are of Sometimes a number of the birds will form a line out in the or not too far from the shore and will drive a school of small before catching them in great as the line moves toward the These birds attracted the attention of all early who visited Salt Lake and this valley five or more years before the pioneers came into speaks of finding pelicans about the we should teach me children about these odd and for they can occasionally see in place of much that is now taught in schools about the birds of other Mistaken for Goodwin related be-re University nature classes in which in people mistook these which are totally un fit for for wild geese and tried to eat When near in the extreme western part of Garfield county a few summers the professor stopped over night at a and naturally the subject of birds came The good woman told him of an experience of theirs which occurred in May She said that her husband and brother hurried to the from the fields one day to get their because a small flock of white geese were feeding in a marshy pasture through which a small stream made its The succeeded in getting several of the and visions or all good things to eat floated before their But various troubles In the first they could not understand why these geese were so hard to pick just couldn't get the feathers said the and they finally skinned the The housekeeper said she looked up the matter in the encyclopedias and satisfied herself that the birds were not but probably but the who had often shot were certain cooked one of the we couldn't eat it it was so |
