WHERE THE PELICAN BUILDS 



149 



to me that he cared nothing for the Game Laws, and 

 would shoot protected birds when he pleased. Un- 

 fortunately, I could never catch the man red-handed. 



It seems strange that the Pelican, a prosaic bird, 

 should be the subject of myths. Even now there are 

 people who believe that a nest of the species has never 

 been discovered. In her poem, "Where the Pelican 



NEST AND EGGS OF PELICAN. 



Builds," Mary Hannay Foott describes the departure 

 of a party of horsemen for the undiscovered country : 



"And thirst and hunger were banished words 



When they spoke of the unknown West; 

 Xo drought they dreaded, no flood they feared, 

 Where the Pelican builds her nest." 



A learned Greek of old gravely asserted that the 

 Pelican, when it found its offspring killed by a snake, 

 beat its sides, and with the blood produced restored 

 life to the stark bodies. 



