470 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



with a loud plash, pounce headlong on their prey. In the morning 

 and evening these small associated flocks are seen thus engaged in 

 fishing until their pouch and oesophagus is sufficiently gorged, they 

 then retire to rocks, bare shoals, or doze on the water while digesting 

 their gluttonous meal. At this time, aware of their imbecility, and 

 the difficulty with which they rise when pursued, they usually 

 select the most solitary or insulated retreats. They are exceedingly 

 voracious ; the very emblem of gluttony, and their voice is a mere 

 hoarse, hollow and indistinct sound, sometimes bordering on a grunt. 

 They are said occasionally to exhibit some address in the capture of 

 their prey, the whole company uniting and encircling a piece of 

 water, beat with their wings near the surface, until the confused and 

 crowding fish of the shoal come more conveniently within their 

 grasp. They breed on rocks near the water, generally choosing 

 places of the most difficult access and lay from 2 to 4 eggs. 



The Pelicans are spread over all the warm, temperate, and almost 

 frigid climates of the globe ; and one of the species may be consid- 

 ered as a cosmopolite. The species are about five. 



