366 HISTORY OF 



toes are all webbed together ; and its neck, in some measure, 

 resembles that of a swan : but that singularity 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. This 

 enormous bill is fifteen inches from the point to the opening of 

 the mouth, which is a good way back behind the eyes. At the 

 base, the biU is somewhat greenish, but varies towards the end, 

 being of a reddish-blue. It is very thick in the beginning, but 

 tapers off to the end, where it hooks downwards. The upper 

 chap is still more extraordinary ; for to the lower edges of it 

 hangs a bag, reaching the whole length of the bill to the neck, 

 which is said to be capable of containing fifteen quarts of water. 

 This bag the bird has a power of wrinkling up into the hollow of 

 the under-chap : but by opening the bill, and putting one's hand 

 down into the bag, it may be distended at pleasure. The skin 

 of which it is formed will then be seen of a bluish ash -colour, 

 with many fibres and veins running over its surface. It is not 

 covered with feathers, but a short downy substance, as smooth 

 and as soft as satin, and is attached all along the under edges of 

 the chap, to be fixed backward to the neck of the bird by proper 

 ligaments, and reaches near half way down. When this bag is 

 empty it is not seen ; but when the bird has fished with success, it 



The Pelican is one of the largest water-birds, considerably exceeding tlie 

 size of the swan, and frequently measuring from five to six feet between the 

 extremity of the bill and that of the tail, end from ten to twelve between 

 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 

 containing, when stretched to its utmost extent, two or three gallons of 

 water. The quantity of fish which it sometimes accumulates in the same 

 serviceable repository is spoken of as enormous. Notwithstanding their 

 great bulk and apparent ckmisiness, the large extent of their wings, and the 

 extreme lightness of thoir bones, which are so thin as to be almost trans, 

 parent, enable these birds to rise to a lofty pitch in the air, to hover at a 

 moderate elevation, or to skim rapidly along the surface of the water with 

 as much facility as they dive into its depths in pursuit of their prey. They 

 sometimes assemble iu large numbers, and in this case are said by BuiFon to 

 act in concert, and to show no little skill in manoeuvring with the view of 

 securing a plentiful quarry, forming themselves into a circular line, and 

 gradually narrowing the extent of the space enclosed, until they have 

 driven the fishes into so small a compass as to render them a certain prey ; 

 when at a given signal they all at once plunge into the water and seize 

 upon their terrified victims, filling their pouches with the spoU, and flying 

 to the land, there to devour it at their leisure. This fishery is carried on 

 both at sea and in fresh water. 



