THE PELICAN. 



367 



the nest and destroyed them,* originated in the bird's habit 

 of pressing its beak to its breast, in order more easily to dis- 

 gorge the food it had prepared for them. They have again, 

 by others, been considered as purveyors of water to the 

 camels, who instinctively seek in the desert for nests of these 

 birds, which form reservoirs of water, conveyed thither in 

 their pouches, to quench the thirst of their young. True it 

 is, that the pouch of the Pelican is capable of carrying about 

 two gallons, but it is for the conveyance of fish rather than 

 water, that it is serviceable to the bird; and were it ten 



The Pelicau. 



times more capacious, the dry and parched sand of the burn- 

 ing desert would soon suck up a supply so insignificant for 

 an animal which, at one draught, would take up the water 

 imported by a flight of Pelicans. 



But without going into fabulous history, this bird has true 

 wonders enough to excite our admiration and astonishment. 

 Looking at its vast dimensions, six feet from the point of the 

 bill to the end of the tail, we should suppose that there would 

 be a corresponding weight to be borne upwards by its vast 

 spreading wings, twelve feet from tip to tip, and yet its entire 

 skeleton does not weigh much more than thirty ounces, its 

 * Eusebius on Psalm cii. 



