72 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



fishing busily for hours, ahghted on the reefs and 

 rocks and preened their feathers. 



There was one species of gull — a laughing gull 

 {Larus atricilla) — which awoke the echoes with its 

 harsh cries and annoyed the clumsy pelicans by steal- 

 ing their fish away, after they had secured their 

 pouches full. The solemn pelicans always fished in- 

 dustriously, when not pursuing their lumbering flight 

 along the shore. Scanning the water as they flew, 

 they would suddenly drop upon a shoal of fish, seize 

 several in their bills, and then elevate their heads and 

 endeavor to throw the fish into their pouches. 



This was the moment the gulls had been awaiting, 

 and they would dart forward before the pelicans had 

 shaken the water from their eyes, seize the fish from 

 their very mouths, and fiy off, laughing heartily at the 

 victims of their cunning. The stupid pelicans would 

 pay no attention to this robbery, but go on with their 

 fishing as though nothing had happened. 



These pelicans were, doubtless, the birds which 

 Crusoe thought to be "penguins," the great, gray 

 species ; they sometimes floated in my bay in front of 

 the hut for hours, like so many clumsy Dutch vessels 

 at anchor. Morning and evening they were always 

 actively fishing, and I watched them with interest, 

 wondering whence they drew those inexhaustible sup- 

 plies of fish, which had supported so many thousands 

 of them for countless years. 



The birds of the sea were engaging, introducing 

 agreeable action into my otherwise solitary harbor ; but 

 the land birds were most dear to me, on account of 



