THE WADING AND SWIMMING BIRDS. 185 



Fig. 152 Common Tern. 



its surface with a velocity perhaps unsurpassed by any 

 bird. 



299. The last family of the Natatores, the Pelicans, are 

 distinguished by the length of the hind toe and its union 

 with the other toes in the web, as seen in Fig. 147. With 

 this extent of web they are great swimmers ; and yet 

 they often perch on trees, which the length of the hind 

 toe enables them to do. The edge of the bills is gener- 

 ally toothed, by which they can hold securely the fish 

 which they take. The true Pelicans, from which the 

 whole family is named, have a large pouch of skin hang- 

 ing from the lower mandible, which serves them as the 

 cheek-pouches do the Monkeys. 



300. The Cormorant, Fig. 153 (p. 186), is one of this 

 family. The sac is so small in the case of this bird that 

 it can not be called a pouch. There is a powerful hook 

 on the end of its upper mandible. It is an excellent div- 

 er, and actually gives chase to fish under water, seldom 

 coming up without a victim. It is a very voracious an- 

 imal. Waterton gives the following account of this bird's 

 operations in the water : " First raising his body nearly 

 perpendicular, down he plunges into the deep, and, aft- 

 er staying there a considerable time, he is sure to bring 

 up a fish, which he invariably swallows head foremost. 

 Sometimes half an hour elapses before he can manage to 

 accommodate a large eel quietly in his stomach. You 



