FEEDING OF THE YOUNG. 197 



digestive heat of that of other birds, and in this bag 

 the pelican carries the fish entire to its young. To 

 disgorge them it presses the pouch against its breast; 

 and this very natural act may have given rise to the 

 fable so generally related, that the pelican opens 

 its breast to nourish its offspring with its blood*." 



The fact of the pelican feeding its young with fish 

 and not with its own blood, was settled by Labat, 

 who made the following experiment, apparently to 

 satisfy himself on the point. *' I took," he says, 

 " two young ones, which I fastened to a stake, 

 and I had the pleasure, for some days, of seeing 

 the mother, which fed them, and remained the whole 

 of the day with them, passing the night on a tree 

 above their heads : all the three were grown so 

 , familiar, that they allowed me to touch them, and the 

 young ones took very graciously the little fish which 

 I offered them, and which they put first into their 

 pouch. I believe that I should have brought them 

 away, if their dirtiness had not hindered me ; they 

 are filthier than geese or ducks ; and we may say 

 that their life is divided into three acts, seeking food, 

 sleeping, and ejecting every moment heaps of excre- 

 ments as large as one's handf.'' 



It may be remarked that the early translators of 

 the ancient naturalists have confounded the pelican 

 with the spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia, LINN.), 

 which indeed is the bird called pelican (jreKeKav) 

 by Aristotle, as he tells us that it devours the large 

 smooth river shells, 'and when it has partly macerated 

 the contents, brings them up now opened, and then 

 picks out and eats the contents J. Pliny again, 

 copying Cicero , says, " Their manner is to fly at 

 those fowl that use to dive under the water for fish ; 



r 



* Quoted by Buffon. 



f Nouv. Voy. aux lies de 1'Amerique, viii. 296. 

 J Hist, Animal, ix. 10. De Nat. Deor. ii. 124; 



s3 



