180 PELICANS, OR ALBATROSSES. 
that amid the prevailing slaughter which is 
sometimes thought to bring the lives of the 
greater part of the animal world to its cus- 
tomary close, there are thousands upon thou- 
sands, of this kind or that, which live out 
their term, and perish only from decay. 
Captain Flinders relates, that upon two of 
the small islands, in one of those bays which 
he calls /agoons, he ‘* found many young 
Pelicans unable to fly. Flocks of the old 
birds were sitting upon the beaches of the 
lagoon, and it appeared that the islands were 
their breeding places ; not only so, but from 
the number of skeletons and bones there 
scattered, it should seem, that for ages these 
had been selected for the closing scene of 
their existence. Certainly none more likely 
to be free from disturbance of every kind 
could have been chosen, than these islets of 
a hidden lagoon of an uninhabited island, 
situate upon an unknown coast, near the 
Antipodes of Europe; nor can any thing be 
more consonant than their feelings, if Peli- 
cans have any, than quietly to resign their 
breath, surrounded by their progeny, and in 
the same spot where they first drew it.” 
