246 lawson's history 



and teal that go in rafts along tlie shore, and are 

 of several sorts that we know no name for. 



Bullnecks. — These are a whitish fowl about the 

 bigness of a brant ; they come to us after Christ- 

 mas in very great flocks, in all our rivers. They 

 are a very good meat but hard to kill, because 

 hard to come near. They will dive and endure a 

 great deal of shot. 



Red heads, a lesser fowl than bull necks, are 

 very sweet food, and plentiful in our rivers and 

 creeks. 



Tropick birds are a white mew, with a forked 

 tail. They are so called because they are plenti- 

 fully met withal under the tropicks and thereabouts. 



The pellican of the wilderness cannot be the 

 same as ours ; this being a water fowl with a great 

 natural wen or pouch under his throat, in which 

 he keeps his prey of fish, which is what he lives 

 on. He is web-footed like a goose and shaped 

 like a duck, but is a very large fowl, bigger than 

 a goose. He is never eaten as food. They make 

 tobacco pouches of his maw. 



Cormorants are very well known in some parts 

 of England ; we have great flocks of them with 

 us, especially against the herrings I'un, which is in 

 March and April ; then they sit upon logs of dry 

 wood in the water and catch the fish. 



The gannet is a large white fowl, having one 

 part of his wings black ; he lives on fish as the 

 pellican. His fat or grease is as yellow as saffron, 

 and the best thing known to preserve fire arms 

 from rust. 



