138 THE SHARK. 
abundance of fishes of prey to feed upon their 
fellow-fishes below. The White Shark is one 
of the most rapacious ; but it is remarkable, 
that these fishes of prey interfere so little 
with birds of prey, that, though famous for 
swallowing almost any thing, they absolutely 
refuse to touch any bird at all. A hen, 
dead or alive, thrown overboard at sea, may 
float in perfect safety from that fish; and 
the sailors have a proverb, ‘ The Shark flees 
from feather.’” 
*¢ The Shark is of enormous size ?” 
‘¢ There is an entire confusion in the ordi- 
nary natural histories of the Shark, through 
the mixture of the rapacity of one species 
with the dimensions of another. The Great 
Shark, Basking Shark, or Sun-fish, feeds 
upon marine plants, and some of the species 
of the meduse; or, in general, like the 
Whale. Like the Conmon Whale, the 
Great Shark can swallow nothing of magni- 
tude, and has a bony apparatus in the 
mouth, shorter, but like that of the Whale, 
to retain, as by a sieve, the small bodies 
which compose its food. The White Shark, 
or Common Shark, which is the rapacious 
