The Audubon Reader (75 page)

I forgot on former occasions to say to you that the Bird of Washington [Audubon’s erroneous but stubborn identification of a new species of eagle, in fact the immature Bald Eagle] is found pretty abundant on the lakes near New Orleans. Governor Roman’s cousin assured Harris & I of this fact. We are promised some in rum. Mr. Zaringue (the cousin) has seen it dive after fish frequently and was the man who spoke of it thus: “
Connaissez vous le Grand Aigle Brun Pecheur?
” He says that it breeds on trees. He knows the White-headed [Bald Eagle] well …

Bayou Salle Bay, Gulf of Mexico

18 April 1837

My dear Bachman,

Here we are all safe & well in Bayou Salle Bay, about 18 [miles] west of the mouth of the Teche, and in Attakapas. We are now on board of our tender cutter the
Crusader
, ransacking the shores of this coast, most of which is flat & marshy, and not so abundantly supplied with birds as either of the [illegible] might wish it to be. However, we have filled 3 casks with valuables, but not with any new bird! We still intend moving westward as far as
Galveston Bay, and may return across the land. I hope this will reach you all well, and that you may have received good accounts from my dear wife & Victor from England, the result of which I shall expect to find awaiting our return at New Orleans—but when, I cannot precisely say.

We are all in good spirits and work very hard, I promise you …

I feel great pleasure, good reader, in assuring you that our White Pelican, which has hitherto been considered the same as that found in Europe, is quite different. In consequence of this discovery I have honored it with the name of my beloved country, over the mighty streams of which, may this splendid bird wander free and unmolested to the most distant times, as it has already done from the misty ages of unknown antiquity.

In Dr. Richardson’s introduction to the second volume of the
Fauna Boreali-Americana
, we are informed that the
Pelecanus Onocrotalus
(which is the bird now named
P. Americanus
) [
P
.
erythrorhynchos
today] flies in dense flocks all the summer in the fur countries. At
this page
, the same intrepid traveler says that “Pelicans are numerous in the interior of the fur countries up to the sixty-first parallel; but they seldom come within two hundred miles of Hudson’s Bay. They deposit their eggs usually on rocky islands, on the brink of cascades, where they can scarcely be approached; but they are otherwise by no means shy birds.” My learned friend also speaks of the “long thin bony process seen on the upper mandible of the bill of this species,” and although neither he nor Mr. [William] Swainson pointed out the actual differences otherwise existing between this and the European species, he states that no such appearance has been described as occurring on the bills of the White Pelicans of the old Continent.

When, somewhat more than thirty years ago, I first removed to Kentucky, Pelicans of this species were frequently seen by me on the sand bars of the Ohio and on the rockbound waters of the rapids of that majestic river, situated, as you well know, between Louisville and Shippingport. Nay, when a few years afterwards I established myself at Henderson, the White Pelicans were so abundant that I often killed several at a shot on a well-known sandbar which protects
Canoe Creek Island. During those delightful days of my early manhood, how often have I watched them with delight! Methinks indeed, reader, those days have returned to me as if to enable me the better once more to read the scattered notes contained in my often-searched journals.

Ranged along the margins of the sandbar in broken array stand
a hundred heavy-bodied Pelicans. Gorgeous tints, all autumnal, enrich the foliage of every tree around, the reflection of which, like fragments of the rainbow, seems to fill the very depths of the placid and almost sleeping waters of the Ohio. The subdued and ruddy beams of the orb of day assure me that the Indian summer has commenced: that happy season of unrivaled loveliness and serenity, symbolic of autumnal life, which to every enthusiastic lover of nature must be the purest and calmest period of his career. Pluming themselves, the gorged Pelicans patiently wait the return of hunger. Should one chance to gape, all, as if by sympathy, in succession, open their long and broad mandibles, yawning lazily and ludicrously. Now the whole length of their largest quills is passed through the bill until at length their apparel is as beautifully trimmed as if the party were to figure at a route. But mark, the red beams of the setting sun tinge the tall tops of the forest trees; the birds experience the cravings of hunger, and to satisfy them they must now labor. Clumsily do they rise on their columnar legs and heavily waddle to the water. But now how changed do they seem! Lightly do they float as they marshal themselves and extend their line, and now their broad, paddle-like feet propel them onwards. In yonder nook the small fry are dancing in the quiet water, perhaps in their own manner bidding farewell to the orb of day, perhaps seeking something for their supper. Thousands there are, all gay, and the very manner of their mirth causing the waters to sparkle invites their foes to advance towards the shoal. And now the Pelicans, aware of the faculties of their scaly prey, at once spread out their broad wings, press closely forward with powerful strokes of their feet, drive the little fishes towards the shallow shore and then, with their enormous
pouches spread like so many bag nets, scoop them out and devour them in thousands.

How strange it is, reader, that birds of this species should be found breeding in the fur countries at about the same period when they are to be found on the waters of the inland bays of the Mexican Gulf! On the 2nd of April 1837 I met with these birds in abundance at the southwest entrance or mouth of the Mississippi, and afterwards saw them in the course of the same season in almost every inlet, bay or river as I advanced towards Texas, where I found some of them in the Bay of Galveston on the 1st of May. Nay, while on
the
Island of Grande Terre I was assured by Mr. Andry, a sugar planter who has resided there for some years, that he had observed White Pelicans along the shores every month of the year. Can it be that in this species of bird, as in many others, barren individuals should remain in sections of countries altogether forsaken by those which are reproductive? The latter, we know, travel to the Rocky Mountains and the fur countries of the north and there breed. Or do some of these birds, as well as of certain species of our ducks, remain and reproduce in those southern localities, induced to do so by some organic or instinctive peculiarity? Ah, reader, how little do we yet know of the wonderful combinations of nature’s arrangements, to render every individual of her creation comfortable and happy under all the circumstances in which they may be placed!

My friend John Bachman, in a note to me, says that “This bird is now more rare on our coast than it was thirty years ago; for I have heard it stated that it formerly bred on the sand banks of our
Bird Islands. I saw a flock on the bird banks off
Bull’s Island on the 1st day of July 1814, when I procured two full-plumaged old birds, and was under the impression that they had laid eggs on one of those banks, but the latter had the day previous to my visit been overflowed by a spring tide, accompanied with heavy wind.”

A single pair of our White Pelicans were procured not far from Philadelphia on the Delaware or Schuylkill ten or twelve years ago. These were the only birds of this kind that, I believe, were ever observed in our Middle Districts, where even the Brown Pelican,
Pelecanus fuscus
[
occidentalis
today], is never seen. Nor have I heard that an individual of either species has ever been met with on any part of the shores of our Eastern states. From these facts it may be concluded that the White Pelicans reach the fur countries of Hudson’s Bay by inland journeys, and mostly by passing along our great western rivers in the spring months, as they are also wont to do, though with less rapid movements, in autumn.

Reader, I have thought a thousand times perhaps that the present state of migration of many of our birds is in a manner artificial, and that a portion of the myriads of Ducks, Geese and other kinds which leave our Southern Districts every spring for higher latitudes
were formerly in the habit of remaining and breeding in every section of the country that was found to be favorable for that purpose. It seems to me that it is now on account of the difficulties they meet with from the constantly increasing numbers of our hostile species that these creatures are urged to proceed towards wild and uninhabited parts of the world where they find that security from molestation necessary to enable them to rear their innocent progeny, but which is now denied them in countries once their own.

The White American Pelican never descends from on wing upon its prey, as is the habit of the Brown Pelican; and although on many occasions it fishes in the manner above described, it varies its mode according to circumstances, such as a feeling of security or the accidental meeting with shoals of fishes in such shallows as the birds can well compass. They never dive for their
food, but only thrust their head into the waters as far as their neck can reach and withdraw it as soon as they have caught something or have missed it, for their head is seldom out of sight more than half a minute at a time. When they are upon rivers they usually feed along the margin of the water, though I believe mostly in swimming depth, when they proceed with greater celerity than when on the sand. While thus swimming, you see their necks extended with their upper mandible only above the water, the lower being laterally extended and ready to receive whatever fish or other food may chance to come into the net-like apparatus attached to it.

As this species is often seen along the seashores searching for food as well as on fresh water, I will give you a description of its manners there. While on the island of Barataria in April 1837, I one afternoon observed a number of White Pelicans in company with a flock of the Brown species, all at work searching for food, the Brown in the manner already described, the White in the following: They all swam against the wind and current with their wings partially extended and the neck stretched out, the upper mandible alone appearing above the surface, while the lower must have been used as a scoop net, as I saw it raised from time to time and brought to meet the upper; when the whole bill immediately fell to a perpendicular position, the water was allowed to run out and
the bill being again raised upwards, the fish was swallowed. After thus swimming for about a hundred yards in an extended line and parallel to each other, they would rise on wing, wheel about and re-alight at the place where their fishing had commenced, when they would repeat the same actions. They kept farther from the shore than the Brown Pelicans and in deeper water, though at times one of the latter would dive after fish close to some of them without their showing the least degree of enmity towards each other. I continued watching them more than an hour concealed among a large quantity of drifted logs until their fishing was finished, when they all, White and Brown together, flew off to the lee of another island, no doubt to spend the night there, for these birds are altogether diurnal. When gorged they retire to the shores, to small islands in bays or rivers, or sit on logs floating in shallow water at a good distance from the beach; in all which situations they are prone to lie down or stand closely together.

Being anxious when on my last expedition to procure several specimens of these birds for the purpose of presenting you with an account of their anatomical structure, I requested all on board our vessel to shoot them on all occasions; but no birds having been procured, I was obliged to set out with a “select party” for the purpose. Having heard some of the sailors say that large flocks of White Pelicans had been seen on the inner islets of Barataria Bay within the island called Grande Terre, we had a boat manned, and my friend
Edward Harris, my son and myself went off in search of them. After awhile we saw large flocks of these birds on some grounded logs, but found that it was no easy matter to get near them on account of the shallowness of the bay, the water being scarcely two feet in depth for upwards of half a mile about us. Quietly and with all possible care we neared a flock; and strange it was for me to be once more within shooting distance of White Pelicans. It would no doubt be a very interesting sight to you were you to mark the gravity and sedateness of some hundreds of these Pelicans closely huddled together on a heap of stranded logs or a small bank of raccoon oysters. They were lying on their breasts, but as we neared them they all arose deliberately to their full height. Some, gently sliding from the logs, swam off towards the nearest flock, as unapprehensive of danger as if they had been a mile
distant. But now their bright eyes were distinctly visible to us; our guns, charged with buckshot, were in readiness, and my son was lying in the bow of the boat waiting for the signal. “Fire!” The report is instantly heard, the affrighted birds spread their wings and hurry away, leaving behind three of their companions floating on the water. Another shot from a different gun brought down a fourth from on wing; and as a few were scampering off wounded, we gave chase and soon placed all our prizes in the after sheets. About a quarter of a mile farther on we killed two and pursued several that were severely wounded in the wing; but they escaped, for they swam off so rapidly that we could not propel our boat with sufficient force amidst the tortuous shallows. The Pelicans appeared tame if not almost stupid; and at one place where there were about sixty on an immense log, could we have gone twenty yards nearer, we might have killed eight or ten at a single discharge. But we had already a full cargo and therefore returned to the vessel, on the decks of which the wounded birds were allowed to roam at large. We found these Pelicans hard to kill, and some which were perforated with buckshot did not expire until eight or ten minutes after they were fired at. A wonderful instance of this tenacity of life was to be seen on board a schooner then at anchor in the harbor. A Pelican had been grazed on the hind part of the head with an ounce ball from a musket, and yet five days afterwards it was apparently convalescent and had become quite gentle. When wounded they swim rather sluggishly and do not attempt to dive or even to bite, like the Brown Pelicans, although they are twice as large and proportionally stronger. After being shot at they are perfectly silent, but when alighted they utter a hollow guttural sound somewhat resembling that produced by blowing through the bunghole of a cask.