168 DALMATIAN PELICAN. 



fourteen inclies and three tenths; beak from rictus fifteen inches 

 and three tenths; naked space about the eyes two inches by 

 one inch and three tenths; tarsus three inches and a half; 

 middle toe and claw five inches and a half. 



The Pelicans form a distinct and well-marked genus, 

 with which, thanks to the spirited proprietors of the 

 Zoological Gardens, most people are very familiar. The 

 singular character of the birds m the gardens — their 

 awkward gait, their voracity, the huge bag suspended 

 beneath the lower mandible, which they fill with the 

 fish most nimbly by a kind of side shovelling or 

 scooping with their long flat beak, at once arrest the 

 attention and excite the interest of the observer. But 

 look at the Pelican in his own wild haunts — look at 

 him dashing like a lump of lead into the sea after his 

 prey, or waiting about eddies and waterfalls with the 

 same object — and then watch them in immense troops, 

 flying in the form of an oblique line or semicircle, 

 and he appears a very diflerent bird to those which 

 we see in confinement. 



Pelicans live upon rivers, lakes, or on the sea-coast. 

 They usually fly low, but sometimes ascend to a great 

 height. They are good swimmers, and can perch upon 

 trees, but they do not prefer this mode of resting, 

 generally taking to the water. They feed principally 

 in the morning and evening, and continue catching 

 fish until their huge tesophageal pouches are filled, wdien 

 they retire to some lone and insulated retreat to digest 

 their enormous meals, as though aware of their danger 

 when gorged. 



This pouch, which holds in some instances as much 

 as a dozen quarts of water, prevents the proper articu- 

 lation of their voice, which is, consequently, as Nuttall 

 has remarked, "a mere hoarse, hollow, and indistinct 



