The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1907-06-18

Probably few visitors to the ZOOS
of our larger cities who see the peli-
cans soIemnly sitting round their
small, round. concrete pond, which
has to do duty for their native lagoon,
know that these great birds, SO unique
IN many ways. still live in wild state
and aest within the confines Of Eu-
rope, Their large size, heavy, un-
wieldy-looking bodies, enormous beaks
with the curious pouch, and general
aspect, give the idea OF remote parts
OF the earth. Vast African lakes, sur
rounded by deserts, or the steamy,
feyer-laden banks Of tropical rivers,
where the alligators crawl among the
mangroves are the haunts one natur-
ally associates with the pelican. One
thinks Of It instinctively as the "peli-
can Of the wilderness" and, as such,
It is with difficulty thought of as an in
habitant Of Europe In this twentieth
century. Their European haunts are.
however, as may be supposed, much
on the beaten track, and the ornithol-
ogist desirous Of making their acquain.
tance must be prepared for rough tray
elling and rough living, and also for a
certain element of risk.
+. B. Lodge. an English naturalist,
tells Of an expedition which he made
TO the pelican country"
From information received he says.
! had hoped to find pelicans in Mon
fenegro; but though | searched care
fully the lake given me as locality,
nothing was seen Of them. Purple
herons were beginning to nest, and
marsh-harriers we're very abundant, be-
sides several species Of duck. One
pigmy cermorant was passed, but no
pelicans, nor did It seem a suitable
place for them. Here, as / was wad-
Eng in deep water In search of a
pnarsh.harrler's nest, | caught alive in
my hand male little bittern as 1t
crouched on the surface Of the water.
Some days later I saw for the first
time Pellcanus crispus in wild state.
Three Of the great birds flew past, and
later \ saw several fishing and rest
ing on the sand We could not, how
ever, approach them near enough for
q photograph, even with the telephoto
lens.
Travelling to point farther south
pelicans were found plentiful enough;
An fact. we could see them with a
good glass from the windows Of my
hosts house. There were generally
. dozen or 80 fishing or resting on
the small lslets in the lagoon. But
they we're very difficult to approach,
and as soon as saw them / began to
doubt whether any Of them bred there.
They were nearly all Of them imma-
ture birds; and though we put in a
fortnight's real hard work wading all
over the lagoon. and visiting all the
ISLANDS and reed-beds. we failed to
find any trace Of nesting-place. Our
doubts were confirmed BY the local
fishermen who declared that they had
not nested there for many years. We
tried lying In walt for them. driving
them, stalking them and setting the
electric camera for them, leaving 1t
out al night in the hope Of catching
them In the early morning. But ali
our efforts were Of no avail
at this point the map was studied
In the hope of finding some likely To-
calIty. and finally. we determined to
ride to some distant lakes and lagoons.
taking few necessaries on pack
horse, enough to last US three or four
days. After sleeping two nights, one
at the house Of a Bey. who regaled US
with lamb roasted whole, and the
1nterminable courses Of Turkish din
ner. and sent us on our way with
two Of his armed retainers as guides
and guards, and another at the house
Of welI-to-dc peasant, we finally, on
the third morning, after riding through
most difiicult country, found the peli.
cans nesting-place. As we sat, each
an the bottom OF a rude dug-out canoe,
propelled by a Turkish fisherman, we
could see in the distance line Of
white objects or the horizon. These,
they told US. were the pelicans on
their nests. Welcome sight When
we could begin to make them Out
through our glasses, they appeared to
be ID front Of some tamarisk bushes
on the shore But afterwards we found
that instead Of being on the farther
shore, as we had supposed, they were
on twb small, low sandy islets, bare
81 any vegetation more than one foot
high After taking few photographs
with the limited number Of plates
brought with us. and securing several
clutches Of eggs. we hurried bach with
the Intention Of coming again with a
setter supply q Photographic neces