TTIK WHITE OR COMMON PELICAN.* 



This bird became familiar to the elders of the present generatiort, in collections of 

 animals which preceded those which now afford such superior advantages. The showman 

 was then accustomed to astonish his visifors by placing his licad under the large 

 membrane or bag of the lower mandible, and then drawing it over that part of his body 

 like a cap. To this exhibition he added some of the wonderful stories which are 

 popularh' associated with tlie history of the pelican, and which were once as attractive to 

 writers on ornithology and to the poets as they were to the most credulous and 



* Pilirnims DiUKiotnlus 



