318 
PELECANID^.. 
swallowed head foremost. During the first two years he kept 
almost entirely to the ground, only occasionally sitting npon a 
stone or a low wall ; but afterwards the roof of the honse was 
preferred, from which elevated position he nsed suddenly to 
pounce down, either to roh a fish-basket or to scatter a company 
of feeding Dncks. But this was merely as a diversion, not as 
a necessity ; for from the time of his first taking np his position 
on the roof he also began regnlarly to procnre his own meals, 
flying to the voe for that purpose, and after remaining there 
for an hour or two, returning to his former station by the 
chimney. He never showed any desire to escape, but, on the 
contrary, he became more and more attached to his human 
friends. Strangers who attempted to handle him ran the risk 
of becoming acquainted with the sharpness of his mandibles, 
and of being scared by the unearthly croaking which always 
accompanied the bite. Being one of his especial friends, I was 
permitted to stroke and handle him with impunity, and he 
would even fly several hundred yards to meet me when I called 
him. The kitchen fire was his great delight, and he would 
bask near it for hours ; but at such times it was imprudent to 
leave either fish or flesh within his reach. Once he carried off 
a newly-skinned rabbit, and at another time he attacked a 
living Duck, and even succeeded in swallowing the head and 
part of the neck before a rescue could be effected. He would 
sometimes extend his explorations beyond the kitchen, wan- 
dering through the passages as calmly as if the house were 
his own, but always betraying himself by the loud flap, flap 
of his great webbed feet upon the flags. For about the first year 
of his life the iris of the eye was of a brownish colour, then it 
became pale bluish green, and towards the end of the second 
twelvemonth lu’ight emerald green. During the third year 
lie rapidly acquired his adult plumage ; but just as this was 
approaching its perfection he was unfortunately killed by an 
old half-blind dog, which in former days had been celebrated 
for its address in seizing and killing wounded Cormorants. 
These birds nest ajiart from the Sliag, at any rate in the 
