1 80 CORMO-RAST. 



cevning it. Stories have been told of its feeding its 

 young with its own blood, and of tilling its pouch with 

 water to supply them in the deserts. Struck with its 

 extraordinary figure, mankind seem to have been willing 

 to supply it with no less extraordinary qualities and 

 appetites ; and, having found that it possessed a large 

 reservoir, they were inclined to convert it to the most 

 tender and parental uses. But the fact is, pelicans are 

 very heavy, sluggish, and voracious birds ; and possess 

 no instincts but what are necessary for the preservation 

 of their kind, and the supplying themselves with a 

 sufficient quantity of food* However, they feed their 

 young with macerated fish for a time, and tend them 

 with affectionate assiduity, till they are able to provide 

 for themselves. 



With all the apparent dulness of the pelican, it is not 

 wholly incapable of receiving instruction in a tame state. 

 A naturalist affirms, that he had seen one that would go 

 off in the morning at the word of command, and return 

 before night to its master with its pouch full of plunder ; 

 part of which it would unload for the proprietor's use, 

 and part it retained for its own sustenance. Another also 

 speaks of a tame pelican, the property of the emperor 

 Maximilian, that lived upwards of eighty years, and 

 always attended his army on the march. 



THE CORMORANT. 



The cormorant is upwards of three feet long, and four 

 feet in the expansion of the wings. The coverts of these, 

 the scapulars, and the back, are of a deep green, edged 

 with black, and glossed with blue ; the quill -feathers and 

 the tail are dusky, and the breast and belly are black. 

 Its figure is clumsy, and seems to indicate sluggishness ; 

 yet few birds are so powerfully predaceous. It devours 

 fishes in astonishing numbers ; and its digestion is so 

 rapid, that its appetites seem always craving, yet never 

 satisfied. 



This bird, even in its most healthful state, emits a very 







