214 THE PELICAN. 



astonishment. Looking at his vast dimensions, six 

 feet from the point of the bill to end of the tail, we 

 should suppose that there would he a corresponding 

 weight to he borne upwards by its vast, spreading 

 wings, twelve feet from tip to tip, and yet its entire 

 skeleton does not weigh much more than thirty 

 ounces, its bones being so light as to be nearly tran- 

 sparent. It possesses also, in a high degree the ca- 

 pacity for containing air, already spoken of*, when 

 we treated of the lightness of some birds ; its bones 

 and feathers, as well as the space between the skin 

 and the flesh, being all reservoirs of air. Thus fur- 

 nished, the Pelicans will frequently, like the other 

 air-supplied birds, rise to an immense height. In 

 one respect, indeed, this lightness operates against 

 its procuring fish ; for so large a surface, of so light 

 a weight, cannot easily be forced under water. 



The Pelicans, aware of their inability to catch their 

 prey under water, in consequence of this buoyancy, 

 adopt an equally certain mode of supplying them- 

 selves ; for, assembling in flocks, they unite their 

 forces, and surrounding a shoal of fish, strike the 

 water with their wings; and with the noisy splashing, 

 frighten and drive them into a narrower compass, so 

 that the shoal at length becomes much compressed : 

 the upper part is thus raised by the lower, when, at a 

 certain signal, all the Pelicans strike the water again, 

 and in the general confusion fill their pouches, and 

 devour the contents at their leisure. 



The Russians, who have ample means of observing 

 their habits, owing to the immense flights arriving 

 annually from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof, 

 * Vol. L, p. 62. 



