“Said Pelican quite pleasantly,
‘Come little fish and play with me’;
Said little fishie in a fright,
‘I’ve heard about your appetite,’”
read the boy named Billy from little Sister’s Bird Children book.
“Wise little fishie wasn’t he youngster?” said he. “Why is a
Pelican anyway--he isn’t good to be eaten and his feathers aren’t
worth anything, and he doesn’t do anything except to eat fish in
great quantities, at least that is all I’ve ever heard about.”
“Long ago,” said Somebody, “when the first expeditions went
across the Colorado desert which had been, until the Colorado
River cut it off, a part of the Gulf of California, some one
remarked that if the desert could be watered it could be made
to raise food enough for a nation. There was the Colorado River
going to waste, of course, but how to harness it up and make it
provide water for the desert which it had made was a question
which no one could answer.
“But along in 1904 it was decided to make the attempt to turn a
part of the river back into its old bed and make it work. The
river wasn’t quite ready to go back and when she did she meant to
go in her own sweet way--but if they wanted her to back into that
old bed, why back she would go--and, taking things in her own
mighty hands, back she did go with a rush. There was that old
Salton Sea Sink--she would first fill that up, and from there it
would be easy to give the people all the water they wanted on the
desert.
“This was serious! There was a railroad in her track--but what
did that matter--people wanted water and water she would give
them. It was a Nation’s work to stop that runaway river, but
at last it was done, and lo and behold--there was that lovely
little sea shining like a jewel in the middle of the desert. They
eventually made the Colorado give them water enough besides to
water the desert which is now called the Imperial Valley where
rice and fruit and cotton and many other things are raised.”
“That is interesting,” said the boy named Billy. “But where does
Mr. Pelican fit in?”
“Right here,” said Somebody. “For along about this time very
probably along came Mr. and Mrs. Brown Pelican looking for a
home. And here was a lovely sea with lots of dear little islands
in it just big enough for two. But after they had started their
nest they discovered that their private sea had no fish in it.
Very probably Brown Pelican said they would move back to the
coast, but that Mrs. Pelican wouldn’t listen to him but said,
‘Here we have a whole ocean all to ourselves; let’s raise our
own fish--we’ll go right now and bring back our pockets full of
mullets and plant them.’ So they did with the result that the
Salton Sea is now one of the most important fisheries in the
state of California.”
“That’s _some_ story,” said the boy named Billy. “But is it a
_Really So_ one?”
“According to scientists it is,” said Somebody. “The Pelican has
long been known to be the best friend of the game warden, which
is why he is protected. He is supposed to carry fish to inland
streams and ponds which otherwise would not have them.”
“Well, he should advertise,” said the boy named Billy, “nobody
knows how useful he is.”
“Perhaps he is too modest,” said Somebody.
[Illustration: They believed in Monsters, and Witches]