384 



THE PELICAN. 



than the Pelican, and most of them founded upon some 

 peculiarity, exaggerated by the ignorant. Thus, the old 

 tradition of its drawing blood from its breast to feed its young 

 ones, or as some ancient authors gravely asserted, to bring 

 them to life again, after serpents had squirted venom into 

 the nest and destroyed them,* originated in the bird's habit 

 of pressing its beak to its breast, in order more easily to dis- 



The Pelican. 



gorge the food it had prepared for them. They have, again, 

 by others, been considered as purveyors of water to the 

 camels, who instinctively seek in the desert for nests of these 

 birds, which form reservoirs of water, conveyed thither in 

 their pouches, to quench the thirst of their young. True it 

 is, that the pouch of the Pelican is capable of carrying about 

 two gallons, but it is for the conveyance of fish rather than 

 water, that it is serviceable to the bird; and were it ten 



* Eusebius on Psalm cii. 



