3icttanarg at gmmatctr $ature. 505 



this species repair to Egypt, in regular bands, 

 terminating in an obtuse angle. During the 

 Bummer months they take up their abode 

 on the borders of the Black Sea and the 

 shores of Greece. In France they are very 

 rare ; in Great Britain unknown. They ge- 

 nerally take their prey in the morning and 

 evening, when the fish are most in motion. 



At night the Pelican retires a little way on 

 the shore to rest, with its head leaning against 

 its breast ; and in this attitude it remains 

 almost motionless, till hunger calls it to 

 break off its repose. It then flies from its 

 resting-place, and, raising itself thirty or 

 forty feet above the surface of the sea, turns 



its head, with one eye downwards, and con- I cultivated and wild 

 tinues on wing till it sees a fish sufficiently 



none more likely to be free from disturbance 

 of every kind could have been chosen, than 

 these islets in a hidden lagoon of an unin- 

 habited island, situate upon an unknown 

 coast near the antipodes of Europe : nor can 

 anything be more consonant to the feelings, 

 if Pelicans have any, than quietly to resign 

 their breath, whilst surrounded by their pro- 

 geny, and in the same spot where they first 

 drew it." It was on this passage that Mr. 

 James Montgomery founded his beautiful 

 poem, ' The Pelican Island.' 



In many places the Pelicans are almost 

 regarded as sacred birds: for instance, a cor- 

 respondent of the Athenaeum, when tra- 

 velling in Persia, speaks of " an immense 

 flock of Pelicans which got up out of the 

 reeds, and flew across our course, many pass- 

 ing quite close to the peak of our sail; one of 

 our Greek servants, Yanni, a Cypriote, drew 

 his pistol to fire at them : but his arm was 

 caught by an Arnout, who told him the bird 

 was sacred, Pelicans having brought water 

 in their bill-pouches to Ali after a battle, 

 when he lay on the desert faint with extreme 

 thirst and toil." 



PELIDNOTA. A genus of Lamellicorn 

 Beetles of an elongated shape, somewhat 

 related to the Cockchafer. It contains ma 

 Brazilian species, some of them with b 

 liant metallic green and copper reflections. 

 In this genus we may specify, from Dr.IIar- 

 ris's work, the common North American 

 species. 



The PELIDNOTA PUNCTATA, or SPOTTED 

 PKI.IDNOTA. A large beetle, arranged 

 among the RuteHdce, which is found on the 



any 

 ril- 



-vine, sometimes 



_n great abundance, during the months of 



near the surface, when it darts down with j u i y a nd August. It is of an oblong oval 

 astonishing swiftness, seizes it with unerring I shape, and about an inch long. The wing- 

 certainty, and stores it away in its pouch ; it covers are tile-coloured, or dull brownish 

 then rises again, and continues the same | yellow, with three distinct black spots on 

 manoeuvres till it has procured a competent | eac h ; the thorax is darker, and slightly 

 stock. The female feeds her young with fish ; bronzed, with a black dot on each side ; the 

 that have been macerated for some time in. body beneath, and the legs, are of a deep 



bronzed green colour. These beetles fly by 

 day ; but may also be seen at the same time 

 on the leaves of the grape, which are their 

 only food. They sometimes prove very in- 

 jurious to the vine. The only method of 

 destroying them is to pick them off by hand, 

 and crush them under foot. The larvae live 

 in rotten wood. 



PELOPEUS.or DIRT-DAUBER. [SeeWASP.] 



PENELOPE, or GUAN. (Penelope crista- 

 ta.) This bird resembles, both in appearance 

 and manners, the Curassows, and seems, like 

 them, to be capable, with proper care and 

 attention, of being added to our stock of 

 domesticated poultry. In a wild state they 

 inhabit Guiana and Brazil, and are said to 

 furnish an excellent dish for the table. They 

 are about thirty inches in length, the tail 

 being about thirteen. Upper parts dusky 

 black or bronze, glossed with green and olive ; 

 fore pnrt of neck and breast spotted with 

 white ; belly and legs, lower part of the back, 

 and under tail-coverts, reddish. Cheeks 

 naked, and of a purple violet colour. Bill 



her pouch. The Pelican generally breeds in 

 marshy and uncultivated places, particularly 

 about islands and lakes, making its nest, 

 which is a foot and a half in diameter, and 

 proportionably deep, of sedges and aquatic 

 plants, and lining it with soft grass. It lays 

 two or more white eggs, of equal roundness 

 at the two ends, and which, when persecuted, 

 it sometimes hides in the water. When it 

 nestles in dry and desert places, it brings 

 water to its young in its bag, which is capable 

 of containing nearly twenty pints. Pelicans 

 are rarely seen farther than twenty miles 

 from the land. To a certain extent, they 

 appear to be gregarious. 



The account which Capt. Flinders gives of 

 the Pelicans which he saw while on his 

 voyage of Discovery at ' Terra Austral is' is 

 almost as pathetic as it is descriptive : 

 " Flocks of the old birds were sitting upon 

 the beaches of the lagoon, and it appeared 



that the islands were their bree 



laces: 



not only so, but from the number of bones 

 and skeletons there scattered, it should seem 

 that they had for ages been selected for the 

 closing scene of their existence. Certainly 



