California Pelican: An Addition to the Arizona List
California Pelican: An Addition to the Arizona List
In the autumn of 1914 or 1915, an adult California Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus), which had alighted on a reservoir at the edge of the village, was shot by Mrs. J. L. Moore, at Dos Cabezos, Cochise County, Arizona. It came into the possession of Mr. E. Q. Kelley, who had it mounted in a soaring attitude.
In the summer of 1919 this bird was suspended from the ceiling of the diningroom in the Montgomery Hotel, in Dos Cabezos, where I measured it. Its dimensions were: Right wing, 550 mm.; left wing, 532; tail, 160; tarsus, 84; exposed culmen, 323; middle toe with claw, 112. The proprietress of the hotel gave me history of the bird, which was later confirmed by the local storekeeper. Both had known of its capture at the time it was shot.
J. Eugene Law
Altadena, California, March 20, 1924
