Anita Martinez, age 7, of Santa Babara, Calif., for her question:

HOW MUCH CAN A PELICAN BILL HOLD?

One of the largest of all the web footed birds is the pelican.

This water bird is famous for the large, naked pouch that hangs on the underside of its bill. This gigantic pouch can hold about 12 quarts of water.

The American white pelican weighs about 15 pounds and is about five feet long. It has a wingspread of eight to 10 feet. The tips of the wings are black.

You'll find the white American pelican living in colonies in most of the Western states and Canada. Many of the birds breed on islands in Utah's Great Salt Lake while others choose Anahoe Island in Nevada's Pyramid Lake.

In winter, the pelicans live along the coast of California, the Gulf Coast and on marshy lakes in the South.

The pelican definitely does not store food in his pouch, as a lot of people believe. The pouch is used as a scoop to catch small fish, which are then swallowed.

Both old and young pelicans have enormous appetites.

An adult bird feeds its young by passing partly digested food from its stomach back up into its pouch. The young pelican then puts its head deep into the pouch and eats.

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

A horny triangle grows on the top of the bill of both male and female white pelicans during the breeding season. The birds build their nests of earth, gravel and sand with twigs on top. The female pelican will lay from one to four dull white eggs.

The pelican is almost voiceless.

There's an old legend that says when there is no food, the mother pelican tears her breast and feeds her young with her own blood. This doesn't happen, but it does point up the mother love and self sacrifice that the bird displays.

Louisiana is named the Pelican State. In the state's seal is a picture of a pelican feeding its young.

In parts of North America you'll find the brown pelican. This bird decreased greatly after the 1940s when pesticides came into wide use. Pesticides that collected in the bodies of fish eaten by the birds affected the birds' eggs. The shells of the eggs became so thin that many broke before the young pelicans could hatch safely.

In 1903, the United States government set aside Pelican Island in Florida as a pelican refuge. The island is in the Indian River near Sebastian.

There are a number of pelican reserves in the West where you'll find great flocks of the large birds.