THE PELICAN. 387 



water, that the poor frightened creatures had closed within 

 the smallest compass, and hy the upheaving struggles of the 

 lower stratum of the shoal, were thus unwillingly exposed to 

 greater dangers in another element ; for, availing themselves 

 of this eventful moment, down came the birds with one 

 simultaneous pounce upon the dense mass. Shortly after, the 

 dark fin would again appear, and a hright jet of glistening 

 foam, rising like a fountain, announced that the animal was 

 under the necessity of breathing or blowing after his labours. 

 Then again he would descend headlong, with a sort of 

 recruited spring, exhibiting nearly his whole body, and giving 

 the water a tremendous lash with his tail as it disappeared. 

 The sound produced by this crash upon the waves was 

 astounding enough in itself, but the effect of the blow was 

 far more so ; for whether, by a sort of sculling motion, it 

 scooped and threw a mass of herrings upwards with a jerk, 

 or whether they were fairly driven from the water with 

 the cloud of foam which followed the blow, the air for 

 some feet above the water was spangled with bright specks 

 of herrings, on which the united host of birds again 

 pounced, forming one mingled mass of herrings, sea-fowl, 

 and foam. 



In the West Indies, it appears that some of the species of 

 Pelicans are able to immerse their bodies ; and, after diving 

 and bringing up their pouches full of fish, will good- 

 naturedly allow the Parasite Gulls (so called from being in 

 the habit of living on the labour of others), to settle on their 

 heads, and partake of the spoil ;* a fact, in great degree 

 corroborating the Russian account of the Cormorants just 

 mentioned. If the Pelicans of the West Indies permit them- 

 selves to be made into resting-places for other birds, those of 

 the Eastern world consider themselves equally privileged to 

 make resting-places for themselves on the bodies of animals. 

 On the banks of the river Tigris, in Asia, the favourite resort 

 of a species of Pelican (Pelicanusfuscus), they may be seen 

 in great numbers spreading their silvery wings, quietly settled 



* Transatlantic Sketches. 



c c 2 



