26 



A NEW HISTORY OF 



wards he did try on his return to England. 

 Having organised an expedition at fearful cost 

 to the country, it proceeded to Africa : he himself 

 staying an home. Woeful was its final issue. But 

 to the point. One day, whilst our conversation 

 turned upon the natural history of the country, he 

 asked me, if I believed that pelicans feed their 

 young ones with the blood from their own breasts ? 

 I answered, that it was a nursery story. Then 

 sir, said he, let me tell you that I do believe it. 

 A person of excellent character, and who had 

 travelled far in Africa, had assured him that it was 

 a well-known fact. Nay, he himself, with his own 

 eyes, had seen young pelicans feeding on their 

 mother's blood. And how did she staunch the 

 blood, said I, when the young had finished suck- 

 ing ? — or by what means did the mother get a 

 fresh supply for future meals ? The gentleman 

 looked grave. The whole mystery, sir, said I, (and 

 which in fact, is no mystery at all,) is simply this : 

 The old pelicans go to sea for fish, and having 

 filled their large pouch with what they have caught, 

 they return to the nest. There standing bolt 

 upright, the young ones press up to them, and 

 get their breakfast from the mother's mouth ; the 

 blood of the captured fishes, running down upon 

 the parent's breast : — and this is all the keen 

 observer saw. 



