PELICAN. 599 



the manner of Corvorants ■, were obferved particularly to do fo 

 in the wood of Sevenhuys, near Leyden, in Holland, fo long as 

 the trees remained *. The eggs are long and white f. It is 

 faid to be a very ftupid bird when on more, but difficult to fhoot 

 while in the water : fwims with the head erect, the body almoft 

 immerfed in the water, and when a gun is difcharged at it, the 

 moment it fees the flafh immediately darts under water. 



In the account of the Shag given by IVillughby, as alfo that of Observations. 

 Brijfon, the chin is faid to be white, and the under parts more 

 or lefs inclining to afh-colour. Linnaus obferves, that the Shag 

 agrees with the Corvorant in all things, except in being fmaller; 

 and fays, that the whole under fide, from the chin to the thighs, 

 is marked with teftaceous white fpots : he likewife fuppofes the 

 probability of this bird proving a young Corvorant %. We be- 

 lieve, however, that the Corvorant and Shag are diftincl birds, not 

 at all related to each other j and indeed the firfb having fourteen 

 feathers in the tail, and the other but twelve, feems to decide the 

 matter indifputably, were there no other circumftance to prove it. 

 It is therefore not improbable that the difference of defcriptions 

 in the above-named authors has merely arifen from their having 

 taken them from the younger Corvorants, which vary ex- 

 ceedingly. 



* Book of Nature, part i. p. 193. f Ray. Willughly. 



X Linnieus feparates the Pelican genus into two divifions ; the one with the 

 edges of the mandible ferrated, the other fmooth ; but by midake the reparation 

 takes place before his Gracalus or Shag, whereas it Ihould not have done fo till 

 after the defcription of that bird, or before the Pelecaims BaJ/anus- — See Syft. 

 Nat. i. p. 217." 



Pelecanus 



