394 '"^^ FRIGATE PELICAN. 



Eight, having its pouch distended with prey ; part of which it was 

 made to disgorge, and tlie rest it was permitted to reUiiu for iia 

 ♦•rouble. 



According to the account of Fa1>er, a Pelican was kept in the court 

 of the Duke of Bavaria ab. >ve lV>rty years. He says that it seemed 

 fond of being in the company of UKinkitid; and that when any one 

 sang or played on an insiruinent, it would stand j'erfectly still, turn 

 its ear to the place, and, wilh its head stretched out, wouM seem to 

 pay the utmost attention. We are told that the Em|>erur Maximiliaa 

 had a tame Pelican that lived more than eighty years, and always 

 attended his soldiers when on tiieir marches. M. de Saint Pierre 

 mentions his having seen, at Cape Town, a large Pelican playing 

 with a great dog, whose head she often, in her frolic, took iuto her 

 enormous beak. 



When a number of Pelicans and Corvorants aie together, they are 

 said to have a very singular method of taking tish. They arrange 

 themselves in a large circle, at sowie distance from laud; and the 

 Pelicans flap with their extensive wings above, on the suiiaee, while 

 the Corvorants dive beneath : hence the fish contained within the 

 circle are driven Ixjfore them i»>ward the land ; and as ll>e circle 

 lessens by the birds coming close together, tl>e iish at last are 

 brought into a small comjiass, when their pursuers find no diiliculiy 

 in filling their bellies. In this exercise they are often attended 

 by various species of gulls, which likewise obtain a share of the 

 spoil. 



THE FRIGATE TELICAX. 



The Frigate Pelican, or Man-of-war Bird is chiefly seen on the 

 tropical seas, and generally on the wing. They are abundant in tlie 

 Island of Ascension, India, Ceylon and China. In the South Sea 

 »,hey are seen about tlve Marquesas, Easter Isles and New Caledoni'i, 

 dso at Otaheite. Dampier saw them in great jdenty in the island of 

 &.ves in the West Indies, and they are common otVtl»e coast of East 

 Florida, particularly around the reefs or keys, often assembled ia 

 flocks of from fifty to a thousand. They are also not uncommon 

 during summer, along the coasts of the Union as far as S:)uth 

 Carolina, and breed in various places, retiring to warmer latitudes ot 

 the approach of cool weather. 



The Frigate Bird is often seen smoothly gliding through the air, 

 with the motions of a Kite, from one to two hundred leagues from 

 the land, sustaining these vast flights with the greatest apparent ease, 

 Bometimes soaring so high as to be scarcely visible, at olhera 

 approaching the surface of the sea, where, liovering at some distance, 

 it at length espies a tish, and darts upon it wMth the utmost rapidity, 

 and generally with success, flyi»)g upwards again, as cjuick as it 

 descended. In the same manner it also attacks the Boobies and other 

 marine birds which it obliges to relinquish their prey. 



They breed abundantly in the Bahamas, and are said to make theil 



