248 



PELECANIDyE. 



to the locality, I should imagine, and not to preference) ; but the 

 species were various. The lateral distension at the base of the bill 

 enables this bird to swallow fish of such breadth as is surprising 

 to persons who liave never examined the structure adapted to that 

 purpose. If approached suddenly when in possession of a fish too 

 large to be swallowed on the instant, the bird dives vdth it, and 

 lias never been observed by him, when thus alarmed, to fly off with 

 prey in its bill; — it has no young to supplywith food from this 

 locality. As to watching fish from a post (as has been stated), 

 he considers it never to do so, but to alight there for rest or dry- 

 ing the plumage, which is efiected by fanning the wings. He 

 believes it to look for food only when beneath the surface of 

 the water. A good telescope was in frequent requisition during 

 these observations, in all of which the most experienced fowlers 

 in the bay agree. 



Cormorants, and all birds that prey on fish, endeavour — but 

 often in vain with the eel — to swallow them head-foremost. Pro- 

 bably a natural instinct prompts them to do so, as the spines in 

 the fins, &c., then lie the " right way,^' and the gastric juice acts 

 first on the most bulky part (the head). 



In the year 1833, Mr. Glennon, of Dublin, showed me two 

 of these birds in the plumage of Bewick^s ' crested corvorant,' 

 in which were found many eggs. He published the following 

 account in the first volume of the ' Dublin Penny Journal ' 

 (1832-33). " Several years ago, I took a pair of these bii'ds 

 from a nest among the rocks of Howth, and kept them for nearly 

 two years, by which time they had attained their full growth [and 

 the plumage of Bewick's 'crested corvoraut']. They were 

 pleasant pets enough, unless when pressed by hunger, but then 

 they became most outrageous, and screamed most violently ; when 

 satisfied with food, they slept, roosting on a large stone trough 

 [)laced for holding water. But woe to the man or beast that 

 attempted to approach them when hungry. It happened once 

 that a gentleman's servant went to look at them while in this 

 state : he wore a pair of red plush breeches, that immediately 

 caught the attention of the birds, M'hich I had been in the 



