THE PXLICAN. 353 



Of mercy the emblem in annals of fame. 

 With her pouch full of fish, the White Pelican ('^) 

 came ; < :., " .^'j; -... ; 



. V .1^ ... . ill. 



(28) Order, Anseres, (Linn.) Pelican, Cormorant, Shag, 

 Booby, Frigate-Pelican, Gannet. 

 The genus Pelecanus, {Linn.) or Pelican, comprehends 

 nearly forty species scattered over the globe, three or four 

 common to this country. The hill is long, straight, hooked at 

 the end ; nostrils an obliterated slit ; toes four, palmate. These 

 birds are extremely expert at catching fishes with their long 

 bills, and are often tamed for this purpose. They are gregarious 

 and voracious. The following are the principal : — 



The Onocrofa/us, White-Pelican, or Pelican, is white, gullet 

 pouched ; bill red, from fifteen to sixteen inches long ; upper 

 mandible depressed, broad, the lower forked ; the gular pouch 

 is flaccid, membranaceous, of a red or yellowish colour, and ca- 

 pable of great distention ; head naked, at the sides covered with 

 a flesh-coloured skin. It is by far the largest of the genus, the 

 wings, when extended, being from ten to twelve feel ; the pouch, 

 which will contain when distended ten quarts of water, answers 

 the purpose of a crop, and is used by the bird to contain food 

 both for itself and for its young, which, when hatched, are fed 

 with the fishes which have been for some time macerated in the 

 pouch. This bird is easily tamed ; but it is a disagreeable and 

 useless domestic, and its flesh unsavoury. Whatever food is 

 given it, it always first commits to the pouch, and afterwards 

 swallows at leisure. It is universally spread over all the warm 

 latitudes of both the old and new continents ; has been seen, 

 although rarely, in this country. In Asia they are pretty 

 numerous, migratory, and fly iu wedge-shaped flocks. Eggs 

 two or more, white, the size of those of a swan ; time of incuba- 

 tion the same as that bird. Great numbers are killed for their 

 pouches, which are converted by the native Americans into 

 purses, &c. When carefully prepared, the membrane is as soft 

 as silk, and sometimes is embroidered by the Spanish ladies for 



