Book III. O^^lTHOLOgT, 3 z 7 



Why they call it a Dove or Turtle I cannot certainly tell. It is indeed about the 

 bignefs of a Turtle, and lays (they (ay ) two Eggs at once like them, and poffibly 

 there may be fome agreement in their voice or note. 



SECTION II. 



Whole-footed "Birds with four fore-toes > or four toes all 

 web'd together. 



Chap. I. 

 Ik (pelecan : Onocrotalus five Pelecanus, AldroV. 



THe length of this Bird from the point of the Bill to the end of the Feet or 

 of the Tail was frxty inches : Of the Bill it felf from the tip to the angles 

 of the mouth fourteen. The (pace between the Eyes and the Bill is * na- * Bare of M* 

 ked. Its feathers are almoft like a Goofes : Thofe on the top of the Head thers * 

 longer than the reft, (landing up like a Creft. The colour of the whole body white : 

 Yet the Neck is yellowifh. The (hafts of the back-feathers are black. The Tail and 

 covert-feathers of the Wings are of a dusky afti-colour, as in Geefe : The ends of the 

 quil-feathers black. The Tail is about (even inches long, made up of twenty or 

 twenty two feathers, of almoft equal length, fave that the outmoft area little lhorter 

 than the middlemoft. Each Wing hath twenty eight quil-feathers. The Bill toward 

 the Head is of a Lead-colour, the end being yellowifh: The upper Mandible broad 

 and flat, the nether as it were two long ribs or fpars joyned at one end, with a thick 

 yellow skin interceding, which reaches backwards to the Throat beyond the Bill. At 

 the end of the Bill is a little knob or protuberance, but the utmoft tip of the Bill is 

 hooked. The Nofthrils are (ituate at the bale of the Bill near the Head 3 above the 

 cranny or furrow running along the length of the Bill, as in the Soland-goofe, and are 

 round. The Eyes are of a yellowifh afh-colouV, or rather whitifh : The Legs and 

 Feet of a lead colour. The {hanks bare above the knees. All the four toes are web'd 

 together, as Alclrovand hath rightly obferved. 



We fawanddefcribed this Bird in the Royal Aviary in St. James Park near Weftmin* 

 Jier. The Emperour of RnJJia by his EmbaiTadours fent to his Majefty in the year 

 1 66 among other rarities prefented the King with two birds of this kind. 



Francifcus Stel/utus-, in a. Letter to* Jo. Faber zxRome, defcribes a Pelecan he law * See his An. 

 at Fabriavo thus. This Bird is much bigger than the biggeft Goofe, yea, equal to, or notauonson 

 bigger than a Swan. [ That which Gefiter defcribed weighed twenty four pounds, aS3«, US 

 of twelve ounces the pound : Of Aldrovands two one weighed eighteen pounds, the 

 other twenty five.] Of a whitifh colour, yet not purely white, but clouded with 

 fomething of dusky or red. Nor is this colour uniform all the body over, for the 

 Wing-feathers are darker than of the reft of the body. Its Feet are made up of three 

 Toes joyned together by a membrane, and a Heel Behind. [ Here by inadvertency 

 I fuppofe Stellutmis miftaken, for all four toes are web cl together.] The Bill almoft 

 as long as ones arm, but not toothed. The tip of the upper Chap is bent downward, 

 with a hook like the claw of fome bird. I could not fee any Tongue, [neither could 

 Faber, who few this fame bird afterward at Rome, find the Tongue, though he 

 fearched diligently for it] but where the root of the Tongue was fixed I obferved 

 certain perforate bodies. On the crown of the Head there ftood up fome feathers 

 elevated above the reft, imitating a Creft. The bag which hangs down under the 

 Bill, and which makes the Pelecan greatly different from other birds, is membrana- 

 ceous, which it fometimes -contracts and draws up Co to the Bill, that it is fcarcecon- 

 fpicuous, other times it furlers to be fo dilated as to receive and contain many (Faber 

 faith thirty ) pounds of water : The membrane being fo ftretcht and diftended, that 

 it appears tranfparent, many fibres and veins running up and down through it. I 

 wondered moft ( they are Fabers words ) when the Bill being opened very wide, 

 I faw the whole head of a man of great ftature received in that vaft gulf of the 



*Craw. 



