THE PELICAN. 265 



The native Americans kill them in vast numbers, }^et 

 they are even too coarse for a savage to digest ; but 

 their pouches, when dried, are converted into bags or 

 purses, and frequently embroidered for the ladies' use. 

 Some authors assert, that they may be made domestic, 

 and rendered obedient to their commander's word ; 

 that they seem to be fond of music and conversation, 

 and will shew attention to both for several hours. They 

 are allowed to be a long-lived bird, as the emperor 

 Maximilian had one tame above eighty years. 



OF THE ALBATROSS, THE FIRST OF THE GULL 

 KIND. 



Though this is one of the largest and most formi- 

 dable of the American and African birds, yet its history 

 has been very imperfectly described. Edwards informs 

 us, that the body is rather longer than the pelican's, 

 and that its wings extend ten feet, if measured from 

 tip to tip: the bill, which is six inches long, is yellow, 

 and terminates in a crooked point ; the top of the head 

 is a bright brown ; the back much deeper, with spots 

 of the same ; and under the wings and belly it is per- 

 fectly white. 



This bird is an inhabitant of the tropical climates, 

 and, like all of the gull kind, takes its prey upon the 

 wing, and chiefly pursues the ftying fish that the dol- 

 phins compel to quit the sea, though it will frequently 

 take different water-fowl by surprise. 



As the albatross, except when they breed, live en- 

 tirely remote from land, so are they often seen ro sleep, 

 as it should seem, even in their flights through the air, 

 though what truth there may be in this assertion we 

 will not take upon us to say. The attachment that 

 subsists between tlje albatross and the penguin, seems 



