411 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Pinnipedes ; Swimming Feet. Pelican Fable of Drawing its 

 Blood explained Mode of Fishing. Sea-birds feeding on 

 Fish thrown up by Whales. Cormorants Voracity of May 

 be tamed Fierceness of. Frigate Bird. Solan Goose Light- 

 ness and Buoyancy of Nests. Anhingas, or Darters. 



TABLE XXVIII. (See page 22.) . 



ORDER 6. PALMIPEDES. TRIBE 2. PINNIPEDES 

 (Swimming-feet. ) 



THE birds of this Table are, like the preceding, web- 

 footed, but they differ 

 from them in having 

 the back-toe so united 

 with the others as to 

 form one continuous 

 web, having, in some 

 instances, a toothed 

 claw on the second toe; 



and, What is very sin _ Toothed Claw of Cormorant's Foot. 



gular, notwithstanding this peculiarity which, it might 

 be supposed, while it rendered them more fit for swim- 

 ming, would entirely prevent their clinging to a branch, 

 almost all of them can, and do frequently perch on 

 trees. 



The Pelican stands at the head of this list, easily dis- 

 tinguished from all others by his capacious pouch, 

 formed of a naked skin, stretched, or rather suspended 

 from the two bony branches of his lower mandible. We 

 have already given his picture, in speaking of the 

 pouches peculiar to some birds. 



Few birds have had more marvellous stories told of 

 them than the Pelican, and most of them founded upon 



