xxvin BEAKS 



347 



uncommon to see ten or a dozen of them perched on 

 one buoy. 



When cormorants dive for fish they use the bill as a 

 pair of forceps : they swim and dive with perfection, 

 but rise from the water clumsily, and their gait on land 

 is an awkward waddle, but they perch with ease on 

 rocks, posts, and boughs. Their upright position when 

 perching gives them the appearance of black bottles or 

 other objects hung up to dry. 



Herons abound around the lakes of the Rift Valley 

 and the Victoria Xyanza. There are many species of 

 them, including the Goliath Heron with a huge bill. 

 This bird stands at the edge of a spit of land erect and 

 stately ; suddenly the head darts forward to seize a fish, 

 which has come within the range of his spear-like bill. 

 The goliath heron is a majestic bird. 



The Pelican, with its huge bill and bag, is well known 

 to all who visit the Zoological Gardens. Feeding the 



C7 O 



pelicans is one of the advertised events in most 

 menageries, and the way they scoop up fishes resembles 

 fishermen catching fishes with hand-nets. 



Although the pelican appears such a clumsy bird on 

 land on account of the short legs and enormous body, it 

 can fly buoyantly and swiftly, and it is interesting to 

 watch a flock of pelicans manoeuvring in the air like a 

 battalion of soldiers at drill. 



Pelicans frequent the big lakes in Eastern Ethiopia ; 

 they haunt the shallow' margins where fishes are 

 plentiful. When the capacious bag attached to its bill 

 is full of fishes, the bird waddles to the land and 

 greedily swallows them. 



It is somewhat difficult to understand how this un- 

 couth bird has won such an important position in ecclesi- 

 astical heraldry. In Christian Art the pelican is a 

 symbol of charity and an emblem of Jesus Christ. This 

 is probably founded on the venerable legend that the 

 " pelican in its piety " feeds her- chicks with her own 

 blood. This has no foundation in fact, and much 



