50 MEMOIR OF PALLAS- 
being trained. A Kirguis will often give a first- 
rate horse for an eagle of good breed, whilst he will 
not give a sheep, or a halfpenny, for one in which 
he does not discover the requisite qualities. I have 
sometimes seen them seated for hours over an eagle, 
examining its merits and defects.” (T. 1. 36—388.) 
Some of his statements respecting the pelican are 
also singular:—‘“ They congregate in troops of 
twenty on the banks of the rivers and bays; and. 
on commencing their fishing in concert, they arrange 
themselves in an extended line, and altogether beat 
the watcr with their wings, to attract the fish, 
which they then seize upon. They seek their food 
principally before day-break and about mid-day, 
and they entirely clear of fish every lake they visit. 
When they do not find either lakes or ponds, which 
they prefer, they resort to the Oural. They are of 
a prodigious size, measuring five feet from beak to 
tail and eight feet and a half across the wings, and 
weighing from eighteen to twenty-five pounds.” 
(Jb. 589.) With a curious remark concerning the 
starling, we shall dismiss his notices on ornithology. 
“The river-starling, so common in Russia and 
Siberia, and so rare elsewhere, frequents the terri- 
tories of the Oural in great numbers. We may 
affirm with great certainty, that this bird dives, 
without wetting itself, into the deepest streams, to 
catch the water-snails and other worms which are 
found in the bed of the river. When shot, but not 
killed on the frozen edges of the stream, they imme- 
diately dive, and do not reappear on the surface till 
