236 cassell's book of birds. 



Only a single American species obtains its food by diving, the others are altogether too 

 lightly built to render such a mode of" fishing practicable. They lie upon the surface of the water 

 as if they were made of cork, and it is only in shallow water, to the bottom of which they can 

 reach with their long neck and hooked bill, that they usually fish for food. For this purpose they 

 assemble together in some place where water is of the proper depth, arranging themselves with 

 considerable regularity, so as to enclose a large space, which as they advance forward is gradually 

 diminished. In large lakes and shallows by the sea-shore they arrange themselves in a semicircle, 

 and row themselves gradually towards the beach, or else they form a complete circle, the diameter of 

 which diminishes as they advance towards each other. In narrow rivers or canals they divide into two 

 parties, and arrange themselves in close ranks facing each other, thus enclosing a space in which their 

 prey is to be procured, as the two lines swim in opposite directions until they meet. In general these 

 birds feed only on fishes, but not unfrequently they catch other vertebrate animals. Young birds, for 

 example, that happen to approach them too closely are seized and swallowed, and even half-grown 

 Ducks occasionally disappear down their capacious throats in an equally unceremonious manner. 

 When on dry land the gait of these birds is slow and waddling, nevertheless they can scarcely be said 

 to walk badly, and notwithstanding their webbed feet, they readily perch upon trees ; they swim well, 

 and their powers of flight are excellent. The daily life of the Pelicans is conducted in a very regular 

 manner ; the early hours of morning are employed in catching food, and they may then be seen 

 hastening from all quarters to their fishing-ground, in small or large parties, the former flying in single 

 file, the latter in the well-known V-shape adopted by many birds of passage. Some parties may soon 

 be seen returning from the water, satisfied with their meal, while others are making their way towards 

 the shallow bay from which their breakfast has to be procured. Towards ten o'clock a.m. they begin 

 to congregate upon their favourite sandbank, or an inland group of trees, and here they repose after 

 their toil, some lazily digesting their food, and others more actively employed in oiling and preening 

 their feathers, a proceeding in which they are occupied for a considerable length of time, their long 

 unmanageable bill being but little adapted to the work. When this is accomplished, they take a kind 

 of siesta, some perched on trees, others on the ground, the former generally sitting bolt upright upon 

 the branches, with their necks thrown back, and their beak resting on their breasts, while the latter 

 generally lie flat on their bellies, and doze away the noontide hours. Between three and four o'clock 

 the whole assembly begins to wake up and prepare for another fishing excursion, in which they are 

 engaged till sunset, after which they at once set off to their sleeping-places, situated on a lonely 

 sandbank, or some island covered with trees, upon the branches of which they pass the night. As to 

 the breeding of these birds, we have been able to collect little from personal observation ; it appears, 

 however, by no means unlikely that in the interior of Africa some of them may build their nests in 

 the trees, to which they so frequently resort. In Southern Europe, as Von der Muhle informs us, 

 they select morasses and lakes for their breeding-places. In some of these lakes, says our informant, 

 floating islands are to be met with, which are only approachable with great difficulty, and upon these 

 they build their rudely-constructed nests, as close to each as other they can well be placed. The 

 nests themselves are constructed of reeds and sedges, trodden together into a mass, and are generally 

 damp or even wet. The whole neighbourhood is covered with their filth, the stench of which, added 

 to that of the putrid fishes, which are everywhere strewn about, is at this hot season of the year, 

 absolutely unbearable. Strangely enough they do not all breed at the same time, for brooding females 

 are often sitting in the immediate vicinity of fledged young birds ; indeed, Freyberg, who has often 

 visited these breeding-places, informs us that in the same nest he has seen a nearly-fledged young one, 

 and another as yet only covered with down, a circumstance only to be explained by supposing that two 

 females had laid their eggs in the same nest. The usual number of eggs, as we are told by Badecker, 



