186 
FABLE AND THE PELICAN. 
is no lack of convives, — pecking, cawing, and barking, whilst the sharp 
little Cape pigeon deftly conveys the morsel from under their enormous 
bills. The life of an ocean-bird in stormy weather must be a hard and 
poor one. I suppose when in luck they get a great gorge at once, and 
that lasts them a long time. The albatross rests much more on the 
water than is generally supposed, and when he alights he is as careful 
of wetting the soft under feathers of his wings as a lady is of protecting 
the hem of her petticoat against the mud of the kennel. Let me add 
that an albatross in a dead calm is one of the meanest birds on the 
wing I have ever seen." 
It is evident that one by one the illusions of our youth are dis- 
appearing. Even much of the romance of the sea is being taken from 
us. Who, with memories of Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner " in his mind, 
has not pictured to himself the majestic flight of the albatross, his 
courage, and his great strength ? And now we must perforce abandon 
the poetic idea, as we are also compelled to give up the touching 
legend that so long consecrated the pelican with a halo of maternal 
devotion ! Simple old Bishop Epiphanius, not foreseeing the new light 
that would be thrown upon Natural History, could write in perfect con- 
fidence : "Beyond all birds the pelican is fond of her young. The female 
sits on her nest, guarding her offspring, and cherishes and caresses 
and wounds them with loving ; and pierces their sides, and they die. 
After three days the pelican comes and finds them dead, and very 
much his heart is pained. Driven by grief, he smites his own side, 
and as he stands over the wounds of the dead young ones the blood 
trickles down, and thus are they made alive again." Hence the old 
emblem-writers, or some of them, found in this marvellous bird the 
type of a good king who gives himself up to the work of promoting 
the welfare of his subjects. Thus Camerarius : — 
" Sangiiine vivificat pelicanus pignora, sic rex 
Pro populi vitae est prodigus ipse suae." 
That is— 
" By blood the pelican his young revives; and so a king 
For a people's sake himself of life is prodigal. " 
