Patrick Welker, age 9, of Beaumont, Texas, for his question:

HOW LARGE IS THE PELICAN?

The pelican is a large water bird with a naked pouch on the underside of its bill and the front of the upper neck. The American white pelican weighs about 16 pounds and is about five feet long. It has a wingspread of eight to 10 feet.

North America has both white and brown pelicans.

The white pelican nests in colonies in the Western states and Canada. Many breed on islands in Utah's Great Salt Lake and on Anahoe Island in Nevada's Pyramid Lake. In winter the bird lives along the California coast, the gulf Coast and on marshy lakes of the south.

The enormous elastic pouch attached to the pelican's bill can hold about 12 quarts of water. The bird does not store food in this pouch, as many persons believe. The pelican uses it as a scoop to catch small fish which are then swallowed.

The bird feeds its young by passing partly digested food from its stomach back up into the pouch. The young pelican puts its head deep into the pouch to eat.

Pelicans live in large colonies and may help each other catch fish. White pelicans swim together in a line, beating the water with their wings. They drive their prey ahead of them, while they scoop and capture the fish with open bills, sweeping them into the pouch.