THE PELICAN OF THE WILDERNESS 5 



that the birds were coming to the water for the 

 night. 



Although we travelled a long way up the Botletli, 

 we never saw pelicans in such numbers as at this the 

 lower end. At this time — July — the annual inun- 

 dation described by Livingstone in his early travels 

 had not yet reached the extremity, near the vast 

 reed-swamp, erroneously called Lake Komadau, in 

 which the river loses itself. The river was shallow, 

 and sw8.rms of fish were shut up in the chains of pools. 

 Here the pelicans, as, too, did the fishing-eagles 

 (Halicetus vocifer), found an illimitable supply of 

 food, with very little trouble in the catching, and no 

 doubt this fact accounted for the enormous number 

 of the birds we saw. 



At first the birds were remarkably tame, and flew 

 slowly over our heads, as they came down towards 

 the river, within easy reach of the shot-guns. A 

 closer inspection of their flight showed us that the 

 wing-beats are slow and very even, and the birds are 

 not easily hurried. The shortish body, long neck and 

 bill, and head tucked well back; the slow, steady 

 beat of the long pinions ; and the unfailing regularity 

 and evenness with which these quaint birds followed 

 one another, were extremely interesting. 



Upon the second evening, as the pelicans came 

 overhead, I was lucky enough to bring one down 

 with a charge of No, 5 shot. This must have been 



