Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-07
BIRD LIFE ON THE PACIFIC
THE PATIENT PELICAN AND THE
HIGHwAyMAN GULL.
Tnmcnc>s of Some of the Ocean
Ripeds is Remarknbie-A Grace
Gul Bait-PGrlOiner.


From ihr N.,v York Evt ung Post.
During the winter the little harhorS of
southern California take an especial in
trr-<t IN account of the birds which flock
there. Tn are filled with pelicans. guils
ana divers. while in the offing the cormo-
rants. or sings. fairly cover the water in
pla.-s. At san Pedro the steamer starts
for Avalon. Santa Catalina and daily
number III white-headed. yeIlow-billed
laughing g,.iIs accompany her the entire
distance If nearly thirty miles They soar
along the greater part of the time. and vary
the morot0ny by battling with one another
for p"int of vantage the gilt balls
which surnount the masts of the rolling
steamer.
or this trip across the channel the voy
sger obtains a glimpse of various water
birds which make their winter home in Cal
ifornia, some of which are rarely seen by
the average bird lover. Perhaps the most
conspicuous bird is the California brown
pelican. which flies along just at the sur
face. its wings held rigid. 1t is a ludicrous
bird al best, its long beak projecting for
ward like nose The flight of the pelican
IS undu!.tinC and graceful-a series Of flaps
followed by long soar and an occasional
rest on the water. When it feeds the flight
is higher-thirty or forty feet above the
surface. The bird then flies rapidly about.
CHANGING down at the water for school of
sardineS smeIt; suddenly dashine down
headiOuG. and with Wide-open beak disap-
II dI4l+E n tlit 1t rises
Immediately. wagsing its diminutive tail
The captive fish are in the big pouch. and
the pelican now losses its beak upward to
throw the fish down its throat. The very
moment of its success is sometimes that of
its undOing- One of the white-headed Eu,Is
which hover about has been a quiet OBJ
server of the pelican's capture. 1t now
aliChts on the latter's back, and at the SUI
preme moment snatches the fish and is
away with a victorious ''ha-ha," while the
patient pelican, without a protest. continues
its search. The Californian pelicans move
south in large fiOckS III winter. The sum
mer destination of the birds was something
of mystery TO the writer until he visited
their rOOSt on Anacapa Island the most
sOutheriy Of the Santa Barbara group. The
rocky plateau on the south point of the
barren island was fairly black with peii-
cans. which rose in vast cloud when the
yachts gun was fired They SCARED about
for few moments and then settled again.
The tameness of some of the ocean birds
at Santa Catalina is remarkable. as well
Interesting Every day a fisherman. in his
Venetian boat. with lateen sails, brings in
his fSh and cleans them on the beach, and
this is an open invitation for the gulls.
which approach within a few feet of the
fisherman and fight for the reteCtamenta of
the catch Beautiful birds they are. wit
harsh and discordant notes. At night they
r"ost on the wharf and boats and are ex-
tremely tame. in fact. so tame are some of
the diving birds here that they at times in
terfere with the hShermen-this being eS-
pecially true of the looms. They float grace
fully upon the water, occasionally thrust
ing the long snake-like head beneath it to
note the location of the food supply: then
disappear. to be seen again darting here
and there: now rushing into a school of
sardin"s. swapping up the small fry or
turning from it to course along the sandy
bottom. thirty feet or below.
one of the most attractive birds of this
locality, certainly the tamest, is the pigeon
guillerot. Upon one occasion fishermen
from the wharf lost bait in incompre-
hrHsible manner; finally a little bird was
seen beneath the wharf making way with
II. The little creature became tame that
when the motion of throwing out the line
WAS made it would come near The
tionS of the bird beneath the surface We're
very graceful. as it used its wings. to all
tntentS and purposes. as when in the air.
1t swan with great velocity, and saw OBJ
tects beneath the surface a long distance
away. Finally it was caught and, like
many of the sea birds. it was unable to fly
from the ground.
Lifting the eyes from the water and the
eVolutions of the guillemot. loon OIL. cormo-
rant. against the blue sky appears the royal
tern. whose graceful flight, swallow-Iike
wings and trim contour suggest a higher
type than the gulls. its cousins. The terms
plunge headlong from aloft and splash into
thu school of little fish In drifting along
the shores of the island in November the
writer had an opportunity to watch the
markable flight and actions of one of the
diving pttrelS- 1t was a dark, almost black
bird with long slender swallow-like wings:
in fact. ii resembled the swallow in Its
fiight-now swoopng down near the sur
face. now rising high in air with most
graceful motion The water was perfectly
calm. and the bird came flying along until
within twenty or thirty feet of the boat,
when it literally flew into the water after
a SdrdlEe bait 1t was not a dive. but
fight. and once beneath the surface it used
Its long artenuated wings to propel il with
marvellous speed. The bird apparently
seemed to think the fishermen were there
for the purpose of feeding 1t, as it repeated
" took the bait.