60 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



Before I leave this bird I want to quote a lovely para- 

 graph on pelican habits, far more modern than anything 

 "medieval," for it is taken from the Arctic Zoology 

 (1784) of Thomas Pennant, who was a good naturalist, 

 but evidently a little credulous, although the first half of 

 the quotation does not overstrain our faith. He is speak- 

 ing of pelicans that he saw in Australia, and explains: 



They feed upon fish, which they take sometimes by plunging 

 from a great height in the air and seizing like the 

 gannet; at other times they fish in concert, swimming 

 in flocks, and forming a large circle in the great rivers 

 which they gradually contract, beating the water with their 

 wings and feet in order to drive the fish into the centre ; which 

 when they approach they open their vast mouths and fill their 

 pouches with their prey, then incline their bills to empty the 

 bag of the waters ; after which they swim to shore and eat their 

 booty in quiet. ... It is said that when they make their nests 

 in the dry deserts, they carry the water to their young in the 

 vast pouches, and that the lions and beasts of prey come there 

 to quench their thirst, sparing the young, the cause of this 

 salutary provision. Possibly on this account the Egyptians style 

 this bird the camel of the river— the Persians tacub, or water- 

 carrier. 



Now let us look at the Trochilus legend, and trace how 

 an African plover became changed into an American 

 hummingbird. The story, first published by Herodotus, 

 that some sort of bird enters the mouth of a Nile crocodile 

 dozing on the sand with its jaws open, and picks bits of 

 food from the palate and teeth, apparently to the rep- 

 tile's satisfaction, is not altogether untrue. The bird 

 alluded to is the Egyptian plover, which closely re- 

 sembles the common British lapwing; and there seems 

 to be no doubt that something of the sort does really 

 take place when crocodiles are lying with open mouth 

 on the Nile bank, as they often do. This lapwing has a 



