50 MEMOIR OF PALLAS. 



being trained. A Kirguis will often give a first- 

 rate horse for an eagle of good breed, whilst he will 

 not give a sheep, or a halfpenny, for one in which 

 he does not discover the requisite qualities. I have 

 sometimes seen them seated for hours over an eagle, 

 examining its merits and defects." (T. i. 36 — 38.) 

 Some of his statements respecting the pelican are 

 also singular: — "They congregate in troops of 

 twenty on the banks of the rivers and bays ; and 

 on commencing their fishing in concert, they arrange 

 themselves in an extended line, and altogether beat 

 the water with their wings, to attract the fish, 

 which they then seize upon. They seek their food 

 principally before day-break and about mid-day, 

 and they entirely clear of fish every lake they visit. 

 When they do not find either lakes or ponds, which 

 they prefer, they resort to the Oural. They are of 

 a prodigious size, measuring five feet from beak to 

 tail and eight feet and a half across the wings, and 

 weighing from eighteen to twenty-five pounds.' 

 {Ih, 589.) With a curious remark concerning the 

 starling, we shall dismiss his notices on ornithology. 

 *' The river-starling, so common in Russia and 

 Siberia, and so rare elsewhere, frequents the terri- 

 tories of the Oural in great numbers. We may 

 afiirm with great certainty, that this bird dives, 

 without wetting itself, into the deepest streams, to 

 catch the water-snails and other worms which are 

 found in the bed of the river. When shot, but not 

 killed on the frozen edges of the stream, they imme- 

 diately dive, and do not reappear on the surface till 



