THE BROWN PELICAN. 35 



their finny prey far out at sea, the weather will be fine, and you also may 

 launch your bark and go to the fishing. Indeed, most sea-birds possess the 

 same kind of knowledge, as I have assured myself by repeated observation, 

 in a degree corresponding to their necessities; and the best of all prognos- 

 ticators of the weather, are the Wild Goose, the Gannet, the Lestris, and the 

 Pelican. 



This species procures its food on wing, and in a manner quite different 

 from that of the White Pelican. A flock will leave their resting place, 

 proceed over the waters in search of fish, and when a shoal is perceived, 

 separate at once, when each, from an elevation of from fifteen to twenty-five 

 feet, plunges in an oblique and somewhat winding direction, spreading to the 

 full stretch its lower mandible and pouch, as it reaches the water, and sud- 

 denly scoops up the object of its pursuit, immersing the head and neck, and 

 sometimes the body, for an instant. It immediately swallows its prey, rises 

 on wing, dashes on another fish, seizes and devours it, and thus continues, 

 sometimes plunging eight or ten times in a few minutes, and always with 

 unerring aim. When gorged, it rests on the water for awhile, but if it has 

 a brood, or a mate sitting on her eggs, it flies off at once towards them, no 

 matter how heavily laden it may be. The generally received idea that 

 Pelicans keep fish or water in their pouch, to convey them to their young, 

 is quite erroneous. The water which enters the pouch when it is immersed, 

 is immediately forced out between the partially closed mandibles, and the 

 fish, unless larger than those on which they usually feed, is instantly swal- 

 lowed, to be afterwards disgorged for the benefit of the young, either par- 

 tially macerated, or whole, according to the age and size of the latter. Of all 

 this I have satisfied myself, when within less than twenty yards of the birds 

 as they were fishing; and I never saw them fly without the pouch being 

 closely contracted towards the lower mandible. Indeed, although I now 

 much regret that I did not make the experiment when I had the means of 

 doing so, I doubt very much if a Pelican could fly at all with its burden so 

 much out of trim, as a sailor would say. 



They at times follow the porpoise, when that animal is in pursuit of prey, 

 and as the fishes rise from the deep water towards the surface, come in cun- 

 ningly for their share, falling upon the frightened shoal, and seizing one or 

 more, which they instantly gobble up. But one of the most curious traits of 

 the Pelican is, that it acts unwittingly as a sort of purveyor to the Gulls just 

 as the Porpoise acts towards itself. The Black-headed Gull of Wilson, 

 which is abundant along the coast of the Floridas in spring and summer, 

 watches the motions of the Pelicans. The latter having plunged after a 

 shoal of small fishes, of which it has caught a number at a time, in letting off 

 the water from amongst them, sometimes allows a few to escape; but the 



