The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1907-05-04

Probably few visitors to the ZOOS
of our larger cities who see the peli-
cans solemnly 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 nest within the confines Of Eu-
rope. Their large size. heavy, un.
wie!dy-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.
fever-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 1t instinctively as the "peli-
can of the wilderness" and. as such.
1t 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
of the beaten track. and the ornithol-
ogist DESTROYS Of making their acquain-
lance must be prepared for rough trav-
elling and rough living, and also for a
certain element of risk.
r. 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
tenegro: but though l searched care
fully the lake given me as locality,
nothing was seen Of them. Purple
herons were beginning to nest, and
marsh-harriers were very abundant. be-
sides several species of duck. One
pigmy cormorant was passed, but no
pelicans, nor did 1t seem a suitable
place for them. Here. as was wad-
ing in deep water in search Of a
marsh-harrier's nest, caught alive in
my hand a male little bittern as 1t
crouched on the surface of the water.
Some days later / saw for the first
time Pelicanus 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
lens.
Travelling to a point farther south
pelicans were found plentiful enough;
in fact, we could see them with a
good glass from the windows of my
hosts house. There were generally
a dozen or so fishing or resting on
the small islets in the lagoon. But
they were very difiicuit to approach.
and as soon as l 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 westinghouse. Our
doubts were confirmed by the local
fishermen who declared that they had
not nestled there for many years. We
tried lying In wait for them, driving
them, stalking them and setting the
electric camera for them, leaving 1t
out all night in the hope of catching
them in the early morning. But all
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 Bey, who regaled us
with lamb roasted whole, and the
interminable 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 well-to.do peasant, we finally, on
1 the third morning, after riding through
most difficult country. found the pefi-
cans nesting-place. AS we sat, each
In the bottom Of rude dug-out canoe.
propelled by d Turkish fisherman. We
could see in the distance a line of
white objects on 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 in 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 two small. low. sandy islets, bare
of 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 back with
the intention of coming again with a
better supply Of Photographic neces-