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Show or whether, as is probable, the three were not represented, I ai the island of Santa Cruz, they were to be seen at this time ty shot here proved to be the Melanetta; bnt I am reasonably . : were present. Their fishy diet and coarse flesh render them, I bnt palatable food, and hence they are scarcely ever disturbei . become very tame, and approach close to the wharves and vet i Francisco with the utmost unconcern. 183. Mergua serrator, ( Linn.).- Red- breasted Merganser. Very numerous in fall and winter, both on the coast and inl i and faded, was shot, June 7, at Santa Barbara. The Mergm i large numbers. 189. Mergu8 cucullatus, ( Linn.).- Hooded Merganser. Appears in fall in large numbers as a migrant. PELECANID*:.- PELICANS. m 190. PelecaniM trachyrynchu*, ( Lath.).- White Pelican. The most conspicuous of all the feathered tribe that we f • Lake were the White Pelicans, noticeable both from their gn ; whiteness of their plumage. This was in August, and the bird > here all summer, breeding somewhere a boat the lake. Durii; they appeared to give up fishing entirely, and, betaking theL i along the lake, they dozed away the unoccupied hours, star i rows, with their heads drawn on their breasts, and appea' them. They were not, however, so taken up with their own i getful of safety, and roused themselves always in time to be i get fairly within gunshot. They breed very early. Captain 1 i this bird in Oregon as early as April 12, though they continu • May. They are present upon all the inland waters of any siz j often and in fewer number are found upon the coast. 191. Peleeanw fuscus, ( Linn.).- Brown Pelican. FeUcanus fuscus, Newb., P. R. B. Rep., vi, 1857,108.- Bd., B. N. A., 1 i Rep., i , 1839, 72.- Coop & Suckl., ibid., 12, I860, 266.- Coue6,1 In contrast to the habits of its more showy white cousin, wl waters of the interior, breeding and living there, the Brown eively on the sea- coast, resorting to the bays and shallow inli small fry which constitute its food. The waters about San Fr favored by this bird, and in a trip across the bay one may huge, uncouth birds winnowing their way from one fishing-, slow, measured wing- beats, or diving with sure aim from mi fish swimming near the surface. Undisturbed, they roam tli the approach of steamer and vessel with utmost unconcern, am ing on the water till almost run down by the approaching clear the water with heavy strokes and fly from almost under of their heavy bodies and the length of wings, they raise then difficulty, and it requires a number of quick, vigorous strokes, < face of the water, ere they can get fairly on the wing. Th firmly, now flopping their broad wings till the desired mom gliding without motion on outstretched pinions. When fishii: from 10 to 20, above the water, and when a fish is discos selves for the effort by a few short strokes of the wing; then w making the water foam with the violence of their plunge. 1 from the bay to distant sleeping- grounds, probably, as noticed 1 broad expanse of the ocean, and when going and coming th clear the surface of the water, falling and rising with the b About the island of Santa Cruz, these birds were uncommoi GRACULiD. fi.- CORMORANTS. 192. Graculm dilophus.- Gray Double- crested Cormorant. This species nests on the Farallone Islands in great abuni i JS^ 0, ^ ar^ ara $ rouP « It is common along the coast, and is bodies of water inland, as at Kern Lake, where it was numero |
