576 



A HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER CXXIV. 



OF THE PELICAN. 



THE Pelican of Africa is much larger in 

 the body than a swan, and somewhat of the 

 same shape and colour. Its four toes are all 

 webbed together; and its neck, in some mea- 

 sure, resembles that of a swan: but that sin- 

 gularity in which it differs from all other birds, 

 is in the bill and the great pouch underneath, 

 which are wonderful, and demand a distinct 

 description. This enormous bill is fifteen in- 

 ches from the point to the opening of the 

 mouth, which is a good way back behind the 

 eyes. At the base, the bill is somewhat green- 

 ish, but varies towards the end, being of a 

 reddish-blue. It is very thick in the begin- 

 ning, but tapers off to the end, where it hooks 

 downwards. The under chap is still more 

 extraordinary ; for to the lower edges of it 

 hangs a bag, reaching the whole length of the 

 bill to the neck, which is said to be capable 

 of containing fifteen quarts of water. This 

 bag the bird has.a power of wrinkling up into 

 the hollow of the under chap; but by open- 

 ing the bill, and putting one's hand down into 

 the bag, it may be distended at pleasure. 

 The skin of which it is formed will then be 

 seen of a bluish ash-colour, with many fibres 

 and veins running over its surface. It is not 

 covered with feathers, but a short downy sub- 

 stance, as smooth and as soft as satin, and is 

 attached all along the under edges of the chap, 

 to be fixed backward to the neck of the bird 

 by proper ligaments, and reaches near half 

 way down. When this bag is empty it is not 

 seen; but when the bird has fished with suc- 

 cess, it is then incredible to what an extent 

 it is often seen dilated. For the first thing 

 the pelican does in fishing is to fill up the bag; 

 and then it returns to digest its burden at lei- 

 sure. When the bill is open to its widest ex- 

 tent, a person may run his head into the bird's 

 mouth, and conceal it in this monstrous pouch, 

 thus adapted for very singular purposes. . Yet 

 this is nothing to what Ruysch assureS^tes, 

 who avers, that a man has been seen to hide 



his whole leg, boot and all, in the monstrous 

 jaws of one of these animals. At first appear- 

 ance this would seem impossible, as the sides 

 of the under chap, from which the bag de- 

 pends, are not above an inch asunder when 

 the bird's bill is first opened; but then they 

 are capable of great separation; and it must 

 necessarily be so, as the bird preys upon the 

 largest fishes, and hides them by dozens in 

 its pouch. Tertre affirms, that it will hide as 

 many fish as will serve sixty hungry men for 

 a meal. 



Such is the formation of this extraordinary 

 bird, which is a native of Africa and America. 

 The pelican was once also known in Europe, 

 particularly in Russia; but it seems to have 

 deserted our coasts. This is the bird of 

 which so many fabulous accounts have been 

 propagated ; such as its feeding its young with 

 its own blood, and its carrying a provision of 

 water for them in its great reservoir in the 

 desert. But the absurdity of the first ac- 

 count answers itself; and as for the latter, 

 the pelican uses its bag for very different pur- 

 poses than that of filling it with water. 



Its amazing pouch may be considered as 

 analogous to the crop in other birds, with this 

 difference, that as theirs lies at the bottom" of 

 the gullet, so this is placed at the top. Thus, 

 as pigeons and other birds macerate their 

 food for their young in their crops, and then 

 supply them, so the pelican supplies its young 

 by a more ready contrivance, and macerates 

 their food in its bill, or stores it for its own 

 particular sustenance. 



The ancients were particularly fond of 

 giving this bird admirable qualities and pa- 

 rental affections ; struck, perhaps, with its ex- 

 traordinary figure, they were willing to sup- 

 ply it with as extraordinary appetites; and 

 having found it with a large reservoir, they 

 were pleased with turning it to the most ten- 

 der and parental uses. But the truth is, the 

 pelican is a very heavy, sluggish, voracious 



