40 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



water, with its goodly catch of fishes large and small, they 

 mob him. One perches on his head, the others fly round 

 him, but each and all know that he will have to part with 

 much, if not most, of his fish, and they are quick to snap 

 u]3 one scaly victim after another as it slips out of the 

 pouch. 



It is good to know, by the bye, that these American 

 Pelicans, though driven by man from many an old haunt 

 of their tribe, are not likely to be allowed to die out. The 

 United States Government has set apart one place at least 

 as a refuge for them. Here they are safe from the gunner 

 and the egg-stealer, being protected by law. 



The place is poor enough to look at, but the Brown 

 Pelicans are glad to flock to it. It suits them quite well, 

 and they don't want beautiful scenery. It consists of a 

 small island not more than three or four acres in size, 

 which lies off the east coast of Florida. It is little else 

 than a mud-bank, and even the mangrove trees which 

 once grew there have been blighted and killed by this 

 invasion of the big white birds. 



It can hardly be denied that the Pelican has flts of 

 greediness, and Canon Tristram says that the phrase " like 

 a Pelican of the wilderness," which is used in the Book of 

 Psalms, to denote something very melancholy and lonely, 

 was suggested by the sight of one of these birds, after it 

 had gorged itself, "sitting for hours and even days with its 

 bill resting on its breast." 



Another Bible naturalist. Dr. Thomson, records having 

 seen this bird both by the Sea of Galilee and by the Waters 

 of Merom. And a more recent traveller, the late Prince 

 Rudolph of Austria, says in his journal : "I saw a very 

 large flock of Pelicans that came flying across the 

 Dead Sea, and circled for a long time over a great fire 



