The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-23
BIRD LIFE ON THE PACIFIC.
The Patient Pelican and the Highway
man Gull.

pecial interest on account of the birds
which flock there They are filled with
pelicans, gulls, and divers while in the
ofting the cormorant, or shags, fairly
cover the water in places. AT San
Pedro the steamer starts for Avolon,
Santa Catalina, and daily number of
white-headed, yellow-billed laughing
gulls accompany her the entire dis
tance of nearly thirty miles. They
soar along the greater part OF the
time, and cary the monotony by bat
Ting with one another for a point or
vantage on the gilt balls which sur
mount the masts of the rolling steamer
On the trip across the channel the
voyager obtains a glimpse OF various
water birds which make their winter
| home in California, 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 surface, its
wings held rigid. 1t is ludicrous bird
at best, it's long beak projecting for
ward like nose. The flight of the
pelican is undulating and graceful-a
| series of flaps followed by long soar
and an occasional rest on the water.
When it feeds the fight is higher
| thirty or forty feet above the surface.
| The bird then flies rapidly about
CHANGING down at the water for a
school of sardines or smelt; suddenly
dashing down headlong, and with
wide-open beak disappearing beneath
| the surface. 1t rises almost immedi-
| @,;I nA
| captive fish are in the big pouch and
| the pelican now losses its beak up
ward to throw the fish down its throat
The very moment of its success is
sometimes that of its undoing. One of
the whte-headed gulls which hover
about has been a quiet observer of the
pelicans capture. 1t now alights on
the latter's back and at the supreme
moment snatches the fish and is away
with victorious "ha-ha," while the
patient pelican without a protest con-
tinues its search The California pei-
cans move south in large flocks in win
ter The summer destination of the
birds was something Of a mystery to
the writer until he visited their roost
on Anacapa Island, the most southern
of the Santa Barbara group. The
rocky plateau on the south point Of
the barren island was fairly black
with pelicans which rose in a vast
cloud when the ships gun was fired.
They scared about for a few moments
and then setteled again.
The tameness of some of the ocean
birds at Santa catalina is remarkable
as well as interesting. Every day
fisherman, in his Venetian boat with
lateen sails, brings in his fish and
cleans them on the beach; and this Is
an open invitation for the gulls, which
approach within a few feet of the fish
erman and fight for the rejectmenta
of the catch. Beautiful birds they are,
with harsh and discordant notes At
night they roost on the wharf and
boats, and are. extremely tame; in fact,
so tame are some of the diving birds
here that they at times interfere with
the fishermen-this being especially
true Of the looms They float grace
fully upon the water, occasionally
thrusting the long snake-lke head be-
meath 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 sardines, snap
ping up the small fry, or turning from
1t to course along the sandy bottom,
thirty feet or so below.
One of the most attractive birds of
this locality, certainly the tamest, is
the pigeon guillemot. Upon one occa-
sion fishermen from the wharf lost
Io; tn, I,
finally little bird was seen beneath
the wharf making away with it, The
little creature became so tame that
when the motion of throwing out the
line was made it would come near.
The actions of the bird beneath the
surface were very graceful, as 1t used
its wings, to all intents and purposes,
as when in the air. 1t swan with
great velocity, and saw objects be-
meath the surface a long distance
away. Finally it was caught and,
like many of the sea birds, it was I'M
able to fly from the ground.
Lifting the eyes from the water and
the evolutions of the guilemot, loon,
or cormorant against the blue sky APP
pears the tJyal tern whose graceful
flight; sNdllow-like wings, and trim
contour ~~ggest a higher type than the
gulls, its cousins. The terms plunge
headlong from aloft and splash into
the school of little fish. In drifting
along the shores of the island in No
vember, the writer had an opportunity
to watch the remarkable flight and ac-
lions of one of the diving petrels. 1t
was a dark, almost black bird, with
long, slender, swallowlike wings; in
fact it resembled the swallow in it's
fight-now swooping down near the
surface, now rising high in the air with
most gracefulNmotion. The water was
perfectly. calm, and the bird came fly
ing along until within twenty or thirty
feet of the boat, when it literally flew
into the water after a sardine bait. 1t
was not dive, but flight, and once
beneath the surface it used its long, |
attenuated wings to propel it with
marvellous speed. The bird apparent
ly seemed to think that the fishermen |
were there for the purpose of feeding
it, as it repeatedly took the bait.
In the Bay of Avalon during the win
INA RI EWrA 62vM = r. n sHuEM 10