386 THE PELICAN, 



Cormorants into partnership on these occasions ; the Pelican 

 extending its wings and flapping the water, while the Cor- 

 morant, diving below, drives the fish to the surface; and 

 when, by their joint exertions, the shoal is driven into the 

 shallows, and easily taken by the Pelicans, the Cormorant 

 helps himself out of his companion's wide pouch. The very 

 respectable writer* on whose authority we state this latter 

 part, gives some further account of the concealment of their 

 eggs, which, however extraordinary at first sight, is so well 

 borne out by the instinctive habits of some other birds, that 

 there is no reason for doubting its truth. He says, that if 

 disturbed while sitting, they will hide their eggs in the water, 

 taking them out with their bills when they believe the danger 

 to be over. 



We can vouch for the fact of sea-birds feeding on fish, 

 forced above the surface by the lower part of the shoal, 

 having witnessed a singular scene off the Hebrides during the 

 herring season. A whale of the smaller species (Delphinu* 

 deductor)-^ was observed pursuing a shoal of herrings about 

 half a mile off. The fish were evidently in a state of alarm, 

 and it was equally evident that a prodigious flight of Gulls, 

 Gannets, and all the host of sea-birds, were aware of what 

 might happen, as they hovered over the spot screaming, and 

 now and then darting irregularly downwards to within a yard 

 or two of the surface. As the whale closed upon the shoal, 

 agitation seemed to increase, judging by the increased excite- 

 ment of the birds above. His long black back slowly rose, 

 and disappeared as the huge animal rolled onwards, seldom 

 descending so far below as to bury his back -fin, which rippled 

 along the surface ; at length he was in the midst of them, and 

 the confusion was complete. At one moment he disappeared 

 altogether ; but though unseen by us, it was very clear, by a 

 momentary elevation of an actual mass of herrings above the 



* Dr. E. D. CLARKE'S Travels. 



t The northern coasts were much frequented by this whale about 

 that time ; at Kirkwall Bay, in Orkney, we saw the remains of no less 

 than ninety-two, which had been recently driven on shore in a heavy 

 gale. 



