BIRDS. 367 



is then incredible to what an extent it is often seen dilated. 

 For the first thing the pelican does in fishing is to fill up the 

 bag ; and then it returns to digest its burden at leisure. When 

 the bill is open to its widest extent, a person may run his head 

 into the bird's mouth, and conceal it in this monstrous pouch, 

 thus adapted for very singular purposes. Yet this is nothing to 

 what Ruysch assures us, who avers, that a man has been seen to 

 hide his whole leg, boot and all, in the monstrous jaws of one 

 of these animals. At first appearance this would seem impos- 

 sible, as the sides of the under chap, from which the bag de- 

 pends, are not above an inch asunder when the bird's bill is first 

 opened ; but then they are capable of great separation ; and it 

 nmst necessarily be so, as the bird preys upon the largest fishes, 

 and hides them by dozens in its pouch. Tertre affirms, that it 

 will hide as many fish as will serve sixty hungry men for a meal. 



Such is the formation of this extraordinary bird, which is a 

 native of Africa and America. The pelican was once also 

 known in Europe, particularly in Russia ; but it seems to have 

 deserted our coasts. This is the bird of which so many fabulous 

 accounts have been propagated ; such as its feeding its young 

 with its own blood, and its carrying a provision of water for 

 them in its great reservoir in the desert. But the absurdity of 

 the first account answers itself; and as for the latter, the pelican 

 uses its bag for very different pmposes than that of filling it 

 with water. 



Its amazing pouch may be considered as analogous to the crop 

 in other birds, with this difl^ercnce, that as theirs lies at the bot- 

 tom of the gullet, so this is placed at the top Thus, as pigeons 



and other birds macerate their food for their young in their crops, 

 and then supply them, so the pelican supplies its young by a 

 more ready contrivance, and macerates their food in its bill, or 

 stores it for its own particular sustenance. 



The ancients were particularly fond of giving this bird admi- 

 rable qualities and psu-ental affections ; struck, perhaps, with its 

 extraordinary figure, they were willing to supply it with as ex- 

 traordinary appetites ; and having found It with a large reservoir, 

 they were pleased with turning it to the most tender and parental 

 uses. But the truth is, the pelican is a very heavy, sluggish, vora. 

 cious bird, and very ill fitted to take those flights, or to make those 

 cautious provisions for a distant tiinp, which we have been told 



