472 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



for a maternal tenderness that went so far as to give nour- 

 ishment to its brood at the expense of its own blood. Its 

 industry and success as a fisher, at this time, allows of a 

 more natural and grateful aliment for its young, and pressing 

 the well stored pouch to its breast, it regurgitates the con- 

 tents before them, without staining its immaculate robe with 

 a wound. 



If indeed, authors do not include more than a single spe- 

 cies in the P. onocrotalus, no bird wanders so widely or 

 inhabits such a diversity of climates as the Common Pelican. 

 In the cooler parts of Europe it is however seldom seen, 

 being observed in France, England, and Switzerland, only 

 as a very rare straggler. It is likewise uncommon in the 

 north of Germany, though great numbers occur on the 

 banks of the Danube. This resort and that of the Stry- 

 mon, also famous for its Swans, is noticed by Aristotle. 

 They are found in Red Russia, Lithuania, Volhinia, Podo- 

 lia and Pokutia, but are unknown in the northern parts of 

 the Muscovian empire, being seldom met with as far as the 

 Siberian lakes, yet^re observed about that of Baikal. In 

 the old world the Pelicans seem to affect more the warm 

 than cold climates. Along the Mediterranean, we find 

 them in the island of Majorca, the lakes of Mantua and 

 Orbitello. In the time of Martial they were common in the 

 territory of Ravenna ; and exist in Asia Minor, in Greece, 

 and on the Propontis, and the Black and Caspian seas. Be- 

 lon observed them at sea, on their passage between Rhodes 

 and Alexandria ; and he afterwards saw them in flight on 

 the confines of Arabia and Palestine. The lakes of Judea 

 and of Egypt, the banks of the Nile in winter, and those of the 

 Strymon in summer, seen from the heights, appear whitened 

 by flocks of Pelicans. They are likewise common in Afri- 

 ca, on the Senegal and the Gambia, as well as at Loanga, 

 and on the coasts of Angola, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, 



