ORDER PALMIPEDES. 049 



The pelican, wliich occasionally rises to a very great eleva- 

 tion, at other moments only shaves the surface of the sea, 

 or balances itself at a moderate height, from which it may 

 dart upon its prey. By striking the water with its wings, it 

 makes it bubble up, and so astounds the fish as to leave it 

 incapable of flight. When the pelicans are in flocks, they 

 act in concert, and forming a great circle, which they diminish 

 by degrees, they thus enclose the fish. When the concentra- 

 tion seems sufficient, all, at a certain signal, strike the water 

 at the same moment, and by favour of this disorder, all 

 plump in and seize their prey, which they then go to devour 

 at their ease. 



After fishing in this manner, when their pouch is full 

 they retire to the points of rocks, where they digest in 

 repose, and remain in a state of drowsiness until night. This 

 pouch, which may be considered as a sort of external crop, 

 has not the digestive heat of that of other birds, and the fish 

 in it therefore remain fresh. To disgorge it to their young, 

 these birds have occasion only to press the pouch on their 

 breast. It is, in all probability, this very simple operation, 

 which has given rise to the tale, that the pelican opens its 

 bosom to feed its young with its own proper substance. 



The pouch is composed of two skins, the internal of which 

 is contiguous to the membrane of the oesophagus, and the 

 external is but a prolongation of the skin of the neck. The 

 wrinkles which are formed by the folds of the latter, serve to 

 draw back the pouch when it becomes flaccid. That the bird 

 may not be suffocated when it opens this sac entirely to the 

 water, the windpipe then quits the vertebrae of the neck, 

 comes forward, and attaching itself under this pouch, causes 

 there a very sensible inflation. Two ring-formed muscles, 

 which at the same time close the oesophagus, prevent the 

 water from penetrating there. 



The pelican fishes in fresh water as often as in the sea, 



