248 
PELECANIDiE. 
to the locality, I should imagine, and not to preference) ; but the 
species were various. The lateral distension at the base of the bill 
enables this bird to swallow fish of such breadth as is surprising 
to persons who have never examined the structure adapted to that 
purpose. If approached suddenly when in possession of a fish too 
large to be swallowed on the instant, the bird dives with it, and 
has never been observed by him, when thus alarmed, to fly off with 
prey in its bill ; — it has no young to supply with food from this 
locality. As to watching fish from a post (as has been stated), 
he considers it never to do so, but to alight there for rest or dry- 
ing the plumage, which is effected by fanning the wings. He 
believes it to look for food only when beneath the surface of 
the water. A good telescope was in frequent requisition during 
these observations, in all of which the most experienced fowlers 
in the bay agree. 
Cormorants, and all birds that prey on fish, endeavour — but 
often in vain with the eel — to swallow them head-foremost. Pro- 
bably a natural instinct prompts them to do so, as the spines in 
the fins, &c., then lie the “ right way,” and the gastric juice acts 
first on the most bulky part (the head). 
In the year 1833, Mr. Glennon, of Dublin, showed me two 
of these birds in the plumage of Bewick's ‘ crested corvorant/ 
in which were found many eggs. He published the following 
account in the first volume of the f Dublin Penny Journal ' 
(1832-33). “ Several years ago, I took a pair of these birds 
from a nest among the rocks of Howth, and kept them for nearly 
two years, by which time they had attained their full growth [and 
the plumage of Bewick's f crested corvorant']. They were 
pleasant pets enough, unless when pressed by hunger, but then 
they became most outrageous, and screamed most violently ; when 
satisfied with food, they slept, roosting on a large stone trough 
placed for holding water. But woe to the man or beast that 
attempted to approach them when hungry. It happened once 
that a gentleman's servant went to look at them while in this 
state : he wore a pair of red plush breeches, that immediately 
caught the attention of the birds, which I had been in the 
