HISTORY OP CALIFORNIA. 



35T 



bare above the knee. In an adult bird, the plumage 

 is almost entirely white, excepting the quill feathers, 

 which are black ; but as it advances in age, it becomes 

 tinged with light red or yellow. The White Pelican 

 is found on the sea-shore, and on the banks of lakes 

 or great rivers, in almost every part of the Old World, 

 with the exception of the arctic regions. In the year 

 1663, a straggler was shot in England at Horsey Fen. 

 It feeds on fish ; and when a single bird is in search 

 of prey, it wheels round and round at the height of 

 fifteen or twenty feet, and as soon as it perceives a 

 fish, darts upon it with inconceivable rapidity : should 

 it miss, it rises, and again repeats the manoeuvre, till 

 it succeeds ; and, as soon as caught, it is consigned to 

 its bag, till it accumulates a sufficient store to satisfy 

 its voracity, with which it retires to some neighboring 

 rock or tree to eat and digest at leisure, and to sleep 

 till the call of hunger stimulate it to fresh exertion. 

 Sometimes, according to Buffon, they assemble in large 

 flocks, and exhibit no small ingenuity in collecting and 

 securing an abundant meal. This they accomplish by 

 forming a circular line, and gradually narrowing the 

 inclosure, till the fishes are driven within a limited 

 space ; then, upon a given signal, they all plunge into 

 the water at once, fill their wallets, and return loaded 

 to land to satiate their gluttony. It builds in rocks, 

 or in marshy and unfrequented places in low islands 

 and lakes, and lays two or three white eggs. It is 

 affectionate and attentive to its young, and from feed 

 ing it out of its pouch originated the fable of its 

 piercing its breast and feeding them with its blood. 



Off the Pacific coast may be seen the Albatross, or 

 Man-of-War Bird, (Diomeda exulans\ the biggest of 

 all aquatic birds, frequently larger than a swan, and 



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