THE BROWN PELICAN. 



STRANGE bird is the pelican, and 

 quite worth one's while to know. 

 It measures three feet from the 

 tip of the beak to the tip of the 

 tail. The tail does n't amount 

 to much, but the wings, when 

 spread, measure from seven to nine feet. The 

 short, stout legs are set well back, so it would 

 seem little trouble for the great bird to stand up- 

 right like a man. The beak is several times as 

 long as the head. On the tip of the beak is a 

 sharp hook, which bends over the lower mandible 

 when the beak is closed. This curious beak sug- 

 gests a fish-hook, and such it really is. The busi- 

 ness of the pelican is to catch fish. That is the 

 reason we find it always along the sea-shore. 



Could the pelican sing like a thrush, and were 

 its song in keeping with its size, we should have 

 deep, grand music indeed. 

 But no thrush is the peli- 

 can, and no song does it 

 sing. 



REFERENCE TOPIC. 



Food-pouches of gophers 

 and squirrels. 



147 



