HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



&55 



BRANT GOOSE. 



The most ridiculous fables have been invented con- 

 cerning the origin of this bird, which was long be- 

 lieved to be the produce of a kind of shells, hence 

 called conchce anatiferoe, found on certain trees on the 

 coast of Scotland and the Orkneys, or on the rotten 

 timber of decayed ships. Abundance of authority 

 for this absurd fiction may be found in the old books 

 of natural history. 



The White Pelican {Pelicanus Onoerotalus), i3 

 sometimes seen on various parts of the coast. This 

 bird is as large as a swan, measuring, when fully 

 grown, from five to six feet from the point of its bill 

 to the tip of its tail. Its bill, which stretches to six- 

 teen or eighteen inches, and two or three in breadth, 

 forms the distinguishing singularity of this bird. The 

 upper mandible is quite flat, with a small red hook at 

 the point j the under consists of two pieces united at 



