When they had learned all they could about the moth Letty asked what they should do with it. “This book says they do no very great harm,” said her mother, “and it is so beautiful that I think we will let it have its liberty.” So the Telea polyphemus was carried out and placed on a tree trunk where it stayed all the rest of the day. But the next morning when Letty went to look for it, it was gone. Susan Brown Robbins. Hark! ’tis the bluebird’s venturous strain High on the old fringed elm at the gate— Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough, Alert, elate, Dodging the fitful spits of snow, New England’s poet-laureate Telling us Spring has come again! —Thomas Bailey Aldrich, “Spring in New England.” THE AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. (_Pelecanus erythrorhynchos._) In the year 1758 the naturalist Linnaeus gave to the birds called Pelicans the generic name Pelecanus. In this genus he also placed the cormorants and the gannets. These with the snake-birds, the frigate-birds and the tropic-birds were for a long time grouped together under the family name Pelecanidae. This name, however, is now restricted to the various species of the Pelicans which are included in a single genus. The generic name Pelecanus and the common name Pelican are derived from pelekan, the Greek name for these birds. They were well known to the ancients by whom they were called Ornacrotalus. There is a legend of great antiquity for which there is no foundation in fact, which states that the pelican feeds to her young blood drawn from her own breast, in which she herself has made the incision. There are about ten species of pelicans distributed throughout the world, mostly confined to those countries having warm climates. Two or three species, however, extend their range into the colder regions during the summer months. Three of the species inhabit North America and two of these are seldom seen except on the sea coasts; the brown pelican (Pelecanus fuscus) on the Atlantic coast and the California brown pelican (Pelecanus californicus) on the Pacific coast. The other species is the bird of our illustration, and is common in the interior as well as on the seaboard of California. The pelicans are notably social in their habits, a large number nesting together. The flight of a large flock is an attractive sight. Their wings move in unison and apparently without much effort. After a few strokes of the wings they frequently sail, forming graceful circles, often at great elevations.