WATER-FOWL. .93 



la formed will then be seen of a bluish ash-colour, with rrany fibres 

 and veins running over its surface. It is not covered with feathers, 

 but a short downy substance as smooth and as soft as satin, and is at- 

 tached 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 success, 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 leisure. When 

 the bill is opened to its widest extent, 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 as- 

 sures us, 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 

 appearance this would seem impossible, as the sides of the under 

 chap, from which the bag depends, 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 Eu- 

 rope, particularly in Russia, but it seems to have deserted our coasts. 

 This is the bird of which so many fabulous accounts have been pro- 

 pagated ; 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 account answers itself; and as 

 for the latter, the pelican uses its bag for very different purposes 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 sup- 

 ply them, so the pelican supplies its young by a more ready contri- 

 vance, and macerates their food in its bill, or stores it for its own par 

 ticular sustenance. 



The ancients were particularly fond of giving this bird admirable 

 qualities and parental affections ; struck, perhaps, with, its extraordi- 

 nary figure, they were willing to supply it with as extraordinary ap- 

 petites, and having found it with a large reservoir, they were pleased 

 with turning it to the most tender and parental uses. But the truth 

 is, the pelican is a very heavy, sluggish, voracious bird, and very il 1 

 fitted to take those flights, or to make those cautious provisions for a 

 distant time, which we have been told they do. Father Labat, who 

 seems to have studied their manners with great exactness, has given 

 us a minute history of this bird, as found in America, and from him I 

 will borrow mine. 



The pelican, says Labat, has strong wings, furnished with thick 

 plumage of an ash-colour, as are the rest of the feathers over the 

 whole body. Its eyes are very small, when compared to the size of 

 its head ; there is a sadness in its countenance, and its whole air is 



