280 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



" Pelicans are numerous in the interior of the fur 

 countries up to the 6lst parallel ; but they seldom come 

 within 200 miles of Hudson's Bay. They usually de- 

 posit their eggs on small rocky islands, on the brink of 

 cascades_, where they can scarcely be approached; but 

 they are otherwise by no means shy birds. They fly 

 low and heavily, usually in flocks of from six to four- 

 teen, sometimes abreast, at other times in an oblique line ; 

 and they often pass close over a building, or within a 

 few yards of a party of men, without exhibiting any 

 signs of fear : they haunt eddies under waterfalls, and 

 devour great quantities of carp and other fish. When 

 gorged with food, they dose on the water, and may be 

 easily captured, as they have great difficulty in taking 

 wing at such times, particularly if their pouches be 

 loaded with fish. Though they can perch on trees, they 

 are most generally seen either on the wing or swim- 

 ming. Some specimens, apparently in mature plumage, 

 have the bill quite smooth above; but some indi- 

 viduals have a long, thin, bony process, about two inches 

 high, springing from the ridge of the upper mandible : 

 similar processes existed in the specimens alluded to by 

 Pennant and Forster, which were brought from Hud- 

 son's Bay ; but no such appearances have been described 

 as occurring on the bills of the white pelicans of the Old 

 Continent." 



The description of an American pelican, killed on the 

 Mississippi, in lat. 56°, is as follows: — The general 

 colour is white, tinged with peach-blossom red, ex- 

 cept the breast, which is yellowish ; while the spurious 

 quills and primaries are deep black : the bill is bluish^ 

 with the margins and tip of the upper mandible reddish: 

 the feet, the naked orbits, and the base of the upper 

 mandible are all flesh-coloured ; the pouch being 

 yellow : the hind head is crested, but the neck is 

 covered with down. The total length is about six feet : 

 the second quill is the longest, and the first considerably 

 exceeds the fifth : the middle nail is entire. 



