BROWN PELICAN. 379 



ing to their necessities ; and the best of all prognosticators of the weather, 

 are the Wild Goose, the Gannet, the Lestris, and the PeHcan. 



This species procures its food on wing, and in a manner quite dif- 

 ferent from that of the White Pelican. A flock wiU leave their resting 

 place, proceed over the waters in search of fish, and when a shoal is per- 

 ceived, separate at once, when each, from an elevation of from fifteen to 

 twenty-five feet, plunges in an oblique and somewhat winding direction, 

 spreading to the full stretch its lower mandible and pouch, as it reaches 

 the water, and suddenly scoops up the object of its pursuit, immersing 

 the head and neck, and sometimes the body, for an instant. It im- 

 mediately swallows its prey, rises on wing, dashes on another fish, seizes 

 and devours it, and thus continues, sometimes plunging eight or ten 

 times in a few minutes, and always with unerring aim. When gorged, 

 it rests on the water for a while, but if it has a brood, or a mate sit- 

 ting on her eggs, it flies off" at once towards them, no matter how heavily 

 laden it may be. The generally received idea that Pelicans keep fish or 

 water in their pouch, to convey them to their young, is quite erroneous. 

 The water which enters the pouch when it is immersed, is immediately 

 forced out between the partially closed mandibles, and the fish, unless 

 larger than those on which they usually feed, is instantly swallowed, to 

 be afterwards disgorged for the benefit of the young, either partially 

 macerated, or whole, according to the age and size of the latter. Of 

 all this I have satisfied myself, when within less than twenty yards of 

 the birds as they were fishing ; and I never saw them fly without the 

 pouch being closely contracted towards the lower mandible. Indeed, al- 

 though I now much regret that I did not make the experiment when I 

 had the means of doing so, I doubt very much if a Pelican could fly at 

 all with its burden so much out of trim, as a sailor would say. 



They at times follow the porpoise, when that animal is in pursuit of 

 prey, and as the fishes rise from the deep water towards the surface, come 

 in cunningly for their share, falling upon the frightened shoal, and seizing 

 one or more, which they instantly gobble up. But one of the most curi- 

 ous traits of the Pelican is, that it acts unwittingly as a sort of purveyor 

 to the Gulls just as the Porpoise acts towards itself. The Black-headed 

 GuU of Wilson, which is abundant along the coast of the Floridas in 

 spring and summer, watches the motions of the Pelicans. The latter 

 having plunged after a shoal of small fishes, of which it has caught a 

 number at a time, in letting off" the water from amongst them, some- 



