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April-June 1850 shore. The boat was however pulled round a point of rugged rocks & we ran into a small sandy cove where a singular & striking scene awaited us. The shore was literally covered with Pelicans & gulls. Upon our approach with loud screams they rose from the ground darkening the air & we had a canopy of fluttering wings. The pelicans grave & stately marched in battalions to the shore ready for flight should we approach nearer, than they deemed consistent with their safety. We were at a loss to determine upon what the birds lived, but seeing fish about concluded that they make trips to Bear & Weber rivers, & from thence return with a full pouch to feed the helpless young & aged. One old fellow we came across, who was quite blind & hoary, but although unable to assist him- self, he was in excellent condition & gave evidence of the care with which the younger branches of his family attended to his wants.97 A most amusing sight is a group of unfledged pelicans, huddled together of all sizes from the red wee thing that had just entered upon life to the size of a goose; these last are covered with a short curly down which makes them somewhat resemble lambs in their external covering, but here of course the resemblance ends. The toddling gait with which they shuffled from us, their im- potent anger, excessive fright & their attitudes as they crowded, hustled, & hid under each other, to get out of our way, made a laughable picture. Gull & pelican eggs were met at every step & I gathered a small pail full to test their quality. I boiled them & Mr. C. & myself having a weakness for eggs anticipated a treat at supper. out of about twenty only one was fit for eating, & the rest after having passed the ordeal were pronounced "rather too far gone & thrown away. 98 97 Scientific observers would discount Hudson's idealistic assumption and would more readily agree with Carrington's observation of every bird for himself-during a storm "the hail killed several young pellicans, as the old ones took to the rocks when the hail began-" Carrington, Journal, 1 June, p. 29. 98 The bird life on the island was still new enough that both Carrington and Stans- bury joined Hudson with descriptions. The former, more taciturn, merely wrote, "in this bay are myriads of gulls & pellicans, quite tame on act of their eggs & young-the gulls screaming, the pellicans looking very grave-" The captain, more verbose, noted "Our friends the gulls and pelicans, had by no means decreased in numbers; the former filling the air with their interminable chattering, which continued the whole night, and formed a 169 |
