PELICAN. 473 



They occur at Madagascar, at Siam, in China, the isle of 

 Sunda, and at the Phillippines, especially in the fisheries of 

 the great lake of Manilla. They are sometimes met with 

 at sea, and have been seen in the remote islands of the In- 

 dian Ocean. Captain Cook observed them likewise in New- 

 Holland. 



In America Pelicans are found in the North Pacific, 

 on the coast of California and New Albion ; and from the 

 Antilles and Terra Firma, the isthmus of Panama and the 

 bay of Campeachy, as far as Louisiana, and Missouri. 

 They are very rarely seen along the coast of the Atlantic, 

 but stragglers have been killed in the Delaw^are, and they 

 are known to breed in Florida. In all the fur countries they 

 are met with up to the 61st parallel of northern latitude. 

 Indeed, in these remote and desolate regions they are nu- 

 merous, but seem to have no predilection for the sea coast, 

 seldom coming within two hundred miles of Hudson's Bay. 

 They there, according to Richardson, deposit their eggs 

 usually on small rocky islands, on the banks of cascades 

 where they can scarcely be approached, but still are by no 

 means shy. They live together generally in flocks of from 

 6 to 14, and fly low and heavily, sometimes abreast, at 

 others in an oblique line ; and they are often seen to pass 

 close over a building, or within a few yards of a party of 

 men, without exhibiting any signs of fear. For the purpose 

 of surprising their prey, they haunt eddies near water-falls, 

 and devour great quantities of carp and other fish. They 

 can only swallow apparently, when opening the mouth side- 

 ways and somewhat upwards like the Shark. When gorged 

 with food, they doze on the water, or on some sand shoal 

 projecting into or surrounded by it, where they remain 

 a great part of their time in gluttonous inactivity digesting 

 their overgorged meal. At such times they may be easily 

 captured, as they have then great difficulty in starting 

 40* 



