THE WHITE PELICAN. 



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White Pelicans. 



White TfUcans. 



The White Pelican inhabits Africa, India, and great part of the 

 south-eastern portions of Europe. It is a very conspicuous bird, 

 its singular membranous pouch offering a distinction perfectly un- 

 mistakable. The pouch, when distended holds two gallons of 

 water, but the bird has the power of contracting it so that it is 

 scarcely to be discerned. The pouch also serves as a net, in which 

 to scoop up the fish on which the Pelican feeds. Another most 

 important use of the pouch is to convey food to the young. The 

 parent Pelican presses its pouch against its breast, in order to enable 

 the young to obtain the fish, which action, in all probability, gave 

 rise to the fable of the Pelican feeding its young with its own blood. 

 The red tip of the bill probably aided the deception. 



Although a web-footed bird, the Pelican, like the cormorant, can 

 perch on trees, although it prefers sitting on rocks. The color of this 

 bird is a pure white, with a very slight tinge of rose color, and the 

 pouch is yellow. t The length of the bird is nearly six feet. 



In America, Pelicans are found in the North Pacific, on the coast 

 of California and New Albion ; and from the Antilles and Terra 

 Firma, the Isthmus of Panama and the bay of Campeachy, as far as 

 Louisiana, and Missouri. They are very rarely seen along the coast 

 of the Atlantic, but stragglers have been killed in the Delaware 

 and they are known to breed in Florida. 



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