NATURE AND SPORT 

 IN SOUTH AFRICA 



CHAPTER I 



THE PELICAN OF THE WILDERNESS 



Early legends concerning this bird — Impressions of Zoo Peli- 

 cans — First siglit of wild birds — Wonderful spectacle in 

 Ngamiland — Curious evolutions — Habits of the birds — 

 Shooting Pelicans — Description, size, and measurements of 

 Pelecanus onocrotalus — Curious use for pouch — Eagles and 

 Pelicans — Pelicans as sea-fishers — Notes by Andersson and 

 Chapman — A long shot at sunset. 



Although that curious bird, tlie pelican, the Ono- 

 crotalus of the ancients, seems to have been known 

 almost ever since the dimmest historical times, and 

 although quaint legends have for ages gathered 

 about it, not many people seem to have closely 

 observed its habits. 



The "pelican in her piety," wounding her own 

 breast for the sake of her young — a tale as old as the 

 hills almost — is either a learned fiction of the heralds, 

 possibly arising from the blood-red hook or tip to the 

 bird's bill, or, as some suppose, the legend has been 



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