252 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PELICANS, CORMORANTS, AND PETRELS. 



IT is a fact that probably but few have thought of, 

 that, in the absence of all human testimony, we 

 could build up a natural history of this country as it 

 was just prior to the Columbian discovery. Possibly 

 this record, based upon bones, would be as substan- 

 tially correct as that which we are disposed to accept, 

 based upon the vague references to animal life scat- 

 tered through the " Journals" and " Records" of this 

 and that early traveller in North America. Those 

 who had the opportunity of seeing this country when, 

 zoologically speaking, it was in its prime, seem one 

 and all to have been especially unfitted for telling us 

 what we now would like to know, and have left be- 

 hind them details reflecting little credit upon them- 

 selves or their successors. The history of the In- 

 dian and wild life generally would be invaluable now, 

 and what we have is rubbish. But the Indian has 

 unintentionally left some records that go a good way 

 in leading us to shrewdly guess the whole truth. 



It is apparent to any one familiar with natural his- 

 tory that our Atlantic sea-coast and the valleys of 

 our principal rivers that empty directly into the ocean 

 are now sadly lacking in those bird-features that 

 characterize the Pacific coast and the (until recently) 



