difpenfably necefiary to fill their magazine for a 
frelli meal. Thus their life is fpent between 
flecping and eating; and they are as foul as they 
are voracious, every moment voiding excrements 
of a prodigious fize. 
* The fame indolent habits feem to attend thefe 
birds, even in preparing for incubation, and de- 
fending their young when excluded. The female 
makes no preparation for her neft; nor feems to 
prefer any place to lay in before another; but 
drops her eggs on the bare ground, to the number 
of five or fix, and in that fituation continues to 
hatch them. Attached to the place, though 
without any defire of defending her eggs or her 
young, file in general patiently fuff^ers them to be 
Taken from her: now and then, indeed, fhe jufl: 
ventures to peck, or to cry out when any perfon 
ofi^ers to dift:urb her; but fhe feems more aftuated 
by perfon al refentment than parental aff"e6tion.' 
However, the Pelican feeds her young with 
macerated fifii for fome time; and when they feem 
importunate, fiie fiies ofi^ in quefi: of a new fupply. 
The above-mentioned naturalift tells us, that he 
rook two of thefe when very young, and tied 
them by their legs to a pofi: ftuck into the ground, 
where he had the pleailire of feeing the old one, 
for feveral days fuccefilvely, come to feed them ; 
remaining with them the greateft part of the day, 
and fpending the night on the branch of a tree 
which overfiiadowed them. By thefe means they 
were all three become fo familiar, that they fuf- 
fered themfelves to be handled; and the young 
ones very readily accepted whatever fifii was pre- 
fented to them ; always putting them firll into 
their bag, and then fwallowing them at their lei- 
fure. It feems, however, that thefe birds in a do- 
meftic ftate, are neither agreeable nor ufeful: 
their gluttony can fcarcely be fatiated; and their 
flcfli linclls very rancid, and taftes fl:ill worfe than 
it fmells. 
But with all the feeming hebetude of this bird, 
it is not entirely incapable of infliruflion when do- 
meflricated. Father Raymond afiures us, that he 
has feen one fo tame and well educated, that it 
would go off in the morning at the word of com- 
mand, and return before night to it's mafl:er, with 
it's pouch diftendcd with plunder; part of which 
the proprietor made it difgorge, and part he per- 
mitted it to retain for it's own fuftenance. 
The Pelican, according to Faber, is not defl:i- 
tute of other qualifications. One of thofe which 
was brought alive to the Duke of Bavaria's court, 
where it lived forty years, feemed to be pofifefl^ed 
of very uncommon fenfations. It was much de- 
lighted with the company and converfation of 
men : and with mufic, both vocal and inflrumen- 
tal ; for it willingly ftood by thofe who fung, or 
founded the trumpet; and ftretching out it's head, 
and turning it's ear, liftened very attentively to 
the harmony, though it's own voice was fcarcely 
more melodious than the braying of an afs. Gef- 
?ier tells us, that a tame Pelican, the property of 
the Emperor Maximilian, lived above eighty 
years, and always attended his army, on their 
march; that it was one of the largeft of the kind; 
and had a daily allowance by the Emperor's or- 
der. In confirmation of the great age to which 
the Pelican lives, Aldrovandus makes mention of 
one which was kept feveral years at Mechlin, and 
was verily believed to be fifty years old. 
Pelican, American; the Pelecanus Onocro- 
talus Niger of Linnseus. This fpecks entirely 
PEN 
coincides with the former in it's general confor- 
mation and habitudes; however, it differs a little 
in colour, and has therefore been confidered as a 
diftinft fpecies. The whole head and neck are 
covered with white feathers; the feathers on the 
back are fmall, white at their fhafts, and of a 
dufky black afti-colour on their fides, all termi- 
nating in points; the tail is afli-coloured; the 
great quills of the wings are black; the lefi^er co- 
verts of the wings are white in their middles, 
edged with cinereous; and the breafl^ belly, and 
fides, are of a dark afh-colour, approaching to 
black, without any intermixture of lighter co- 
lours. The legs, which are fhort, are of a dirty 
yellow greenifii colour ; and the claws are duflcy. 
This bird is a native of the Wefl: Indies, and 
feveral parts of the continent of America. The 
favages kill vaft numbers of them ; not to eat, (for 
they are not even admitted to the banquet of a fa- 
vage) but to convert their large bags into purfes 
and tobacco-pouches. They bellow abundant 
pains in drefllng their fkins with fait and oil, in 
order to form them to their purpofes : thus they 
become fo foft and pliant, that the Spanifh ladies 
fometimes decorate them with gold and embroi- 
dery for work-bags. 
PELLA. An appellation by which fome na- 
turalifts exprefs the common grey heron. 
PELLACK. The name of a young fpout 
whale, often found in Zetland; where it runs into 
creeks, and is fo entangled among the rocks, that 
it is either forced afliore, or eafily taken. 
PELORIDES. An appellation given by fome 
conchologiflis to a peculiar fpecies of chama. Bel- 
lonius, who firft introduced the word, never iifes 
it fingly as the name of the fliell, but only as an 
epithet, derived from Peloro, the name of a place 
where a particular fpecies of the chama was very 
frequent. 
PEN-FISH. A name ufed by fome ichthy- 
ologifts to exprefs a kind of eel-pout, with a 
fmooth flcin, entirely deftitute of fcales, and about 
a foot long. The back is brown; the belly is of 
a pale blue colour; and the fins are brown, fharp, 
and venomous. The flefh is well-tafted, but un- 
wholefome when eaten too freely. This filh is 
found in lakes and ponds. 
PEN, SEA. A genus of zoophyte, which, 
though it fwims about freely in the fea, approaches 
near to the gorgonia. This genus has a bone 
along the middle of the infidc, which is it's chief 
fupport ; and this bone receives the fupply of it's 
ofTeous matter by the fame polype mouths that 
furnifii it with nourifhment, Linnaeus enume- 
rates feven fpecies. 
PENGUIN. An appellation given by ma- 
riners, and adopted by naturalifts, to a clafs of 
aquatic fowl, of which there are feveral IpecieSj 
known by different denominations. 
Thefe birds, though they generally frequent 
the fame places with the gull kind, are neither 
long-winged nor Iwift fliers : they are indeed but 
indifi'erently formed for flight, and fi:ill Icfs 
adapted for walking. The duck is not half fo 
unwieldy an animal as the whole tribe of the Pen- 
guin kind. Their wings are much fliorter, more 
fcantily furniftied with quills, and the whole pi- 
nion placed too forward to be ufefully employed: 
for this reafon the largefl of the Penguin kind, 
which have thick heavy bodies to raife, cannot fly 
at all; their wings ferve rather as paddles to af- 
fift their progrefllve motion when they attempt to 
haften 
