THE PELICAN. 



201 



whatever water-fowl they be, is so disgusting, 

 that our upholsterers give near double the 

 price for old feathers that they afford for new : 

 to be free from smell, they must all be lain 

 upon for some time ; and their usual method 

 is to mix the new and the old together. 



This quantity of oil, with which most 

 water-fowl are supplied, contributes also to 

 their warmth in the moist element where they 

 reside. Their skin is generally lined with 

 fat ; so that, with the warmth of the feathers 

 externally, and this natural lining more in- 

 ternally, they are better defended against the 

 changes or the inclemencies of the weather, 

 than any other class whatever. 



As, among land-birds, there are some found 

 fitted entirely for depredation, and others for 

 a harmless method of subsisting upon vegeta- 

 bles, so also, among these birds, there are 

 tribes of plunderers that prey, not only upon 

 fish, but sometimes upon water-fowl them- 

 selves. There are likewise more inoffensive 

 tribes, that live upon insects and vegetables 

 only. Some water-fowls subsist by making 

 sudden stoops from above, to seize whatever 

 fish come near the surface ; others again, not 

 furnished with wings long enough to fit them 

 for flight, take their prey by diving after it 

 to the bottom. 



From hence all water-fowl naturally fall 

 into three distinctions. Those of the Gull 

 kind, that, with long legs and round bills, fly 

 along the surface to seize their prey : those of 

 the Penguin kind, that, with round bills, legs 

 hid in the abdomen, and short wings, dive 

 after their prey : and, thirdly, those of the 

 Goose kind, with flat broad bills, that lead 

 harmless lives, and chiefly subsist upon in- 

 sects and vegetables. 



These are not speculative distinctions, made 

 up for the arrangement of a system ; but they 

 are strongly and evidently marked by nature. 

 The gull kind are active and rapacious ; con- 

 stantly, except when they breed, keeping upon 

 the wing ; fitted for a life of rapine, with 

 sharp straight bills for piercing, or hooked at 

 the end for holding their fishy prey. In this 

 class we may rank the Albatross, the Cormo- 

 rant, the Gannet or Solan Goose, the Shag, 

 the Frigate-bird, the Great Brown Gull, and 

 all the lesser tribe of gulls and sea-swallows. 



The Penguin kind, with appetites as vora- 

 cious, bills as sharp, and equally eager for 

 prey, are yet unqualified to obtain it by flight. 

 Their wings are short, and their bodies large 

 and heavy, so that they can neither run nor 

 fly. But they are formed for diving in a very 

 peculiar manner. Their feet are placed so far 

 backward, and their legs so hid in the abdo- 

 men, that the slightest stroke sends them head 

 foremost to the bottom of the water. To this 

 class we may refer the Penguin, the Auk, 



the Skout, the Sea-turtle, the Bottlenose, and 

 the Loon. 



The Goose kind are easily distinguishable, 

 by their flat broad bills covered with a skin, 

 and their manner of feeding, which is mostly 

 upon vegetables. In this class we may place 

 the Swan, the Goose, the Duck, the Teal, the 

 Widgeon, and all their numerous varieties. 



In describing the birds of these three clas- 

 ses, I will put the most remarkable of each 

 class at the beginning of their respective tribes, 

 and give their separate history ; then, after 

 having described the chiefs of the tribe, the 

 more ordinary sorts will naturally fall in a 

 body, and come under a general description, 

 behind their leaders. But before I offer to 

 pursue this methodical arrangement, I must 

 give the history of a bird, that, from the sin- 

 gularity of its conformation, seems allied to no 

 species ; and should, therefore, be separately 

 described I mean the Pelican. 



CHAP. IL 



THE PELICAN. 



THE Pelican of Africa is much larger in 

 the body than a swan, and somewhat of the 

 same shape and colour. Its four toes are all 

 webbed together; and its neck, in some mea- 

 sure, resembles that of a swan : but that sin- 

 gularity in which it differs from all other birds 

 is in the bill and the great pouch underneath, 

 which are wonderful, and demand a distinct 

 description. 1 This enormous bill is fifteen 



1 The Pelican is one of the largest water-birds, consi- 

 derably exceeding the size of the swan, and frequently 

 measuring from five to six feet between the extremity of 

 the bill and that of the tail, and from ten. to twelve be- 

 tween the tips of the expanded wings. Its bill is nearly 

 a foot and a half in length, and from an inch and a half 

 to two inches broad ; and its pouch is capable of contain- 

 ing, when stretched to its utmost extent, two or three 

 gallons of water. The quantity of fish which it some- 

 times accumulates in the same serviceable repository is 

 spoken of as enormous. Notwithstanding their great 

 2c 



