334 
VEUTEERATA. 
TUE COMMON TVHITE PELICAJf. 
and modified according to their difFerent tinds, formed sucli a liorrid music that I "was every mo- 
ment obliged to cover my liead to give a little relief to my ears. The alarm which we spread 
was so much the more general among these innumerable legions of birds, as we principally dis- 
turbed the females which were then sitting. They had nests, ego-s, and young to defend. They 
were like furious harpies let loose against us, and their cries rendered us almost deaf. They often 
flew so near us that they flapped their wings in our faces, and though we fired our pieces repeat- 
edly w^e were not able to frighten them ; it seemed almost impossible to disperse this clond. We 
could not move one step without crushing either their eggs or their young ones; the eai'th was 
entirely strewed with them." The same traveler found on the Klein-Brak River, while waiting 
