The Hiftory of ANIMALS. 441 
birds have defcribed it. Gefner calls it Carbo aquaticus ; Aldrovand, Ray, Willughby 2 
and others, Corvus aquaticus ; and others have taken one or other of thefe names. 
Pelicanus fuhtus fufcus , reElricibus duodecimo 
The Pelicanus , brown underneath y with twelve 
feathers in the tail . 
This is confiderably like the former fpecies in fhape, but quite different in colour ; 
it is of the fize of a well-fed duck : the head is large, and flatted on the crown ; the 
eyes are fmall, and they are very remarkably fituated ; they ftand more forward, and 
lower down on the head, than in any known bird: the beak is ftraight, and not very 
robud j it is neither compreffed on the top, nor flatted at the edges, but is of a round¬ 
ed figure : the whole beak is about three inches and a quarter long ; the upper chap is 
jfomewhat longer than the under, and turns over it in a little hook at the end, other- 
wife the whole beak is ffraight: the upper chap is black ; the under one is of an 
olive colour with a tinge of yellow: the opening of the mouth is enormoufly wide: 
the tongue is very fmall and inconfiderable: the noflrils are alfo very fmall, and fcarce 
confpicuous: feveral authors have indeed faid it has none. 
The body is of a broad and depreffed figure; the back flatted, and the fhoulders 
very little raifed: the colour of the whole upper part of the bird is a deep and ele¬ 
gant black, with a tinge of glowing purple thrown . over it, and of green in fome 
lights; and the whole has a glofs and brightnefs on it, that is fcarce to be conceived, 
otherwife than by feeing it: the bread is brown, and fo is the greater portion of the 
under part of the body; but the middle of the belly is fomewhat greyifh, and, to¬ 
ward the tail, it is black. And the throat has fome whitenefs in it. 
The tail is fix inches in length, and is compofed of twelve large and rigid feathers; 
the middle ones are the longed of thefe, but the exterior ones are very inconfiderable, 
fo that, when expanded, it appears of a kind of hyperbolic figure : the wings are not 
very long ; when clofed, they reach no farther at the tips than to the bafe of the tail: 
the long feathers in each are thirty. 
The legs are fhort and robud; they are not rounded, but compreffed, or of a 
flatted figure, and are feathered below the joint ; they are covered with a firm and 
tough fkin, not divided into fcales, but cancellated : the feet are very large and web¬ 
bed : the toes are four; the outer one of each foot is longed, the others gradually 
Ihorter : the legs are black, as is alfo the foie of the foot; but the membrane which 
conne&s the toes is brown : the claw of the middle toe is ferrated or pedtinated. 
This is a native of the coads of England ; it is afea-bird, and is ufually feenfwim- 
ming with it’s head eredt, and it’s body almod entirely under water. It is very fhy, 
and very difficult to be fhot; it dives to admiration, and never fails to get far off, a£ 
the fight of a gun. It builds with us, and ufually does it in trees, not among the 
rocks; the eggs are oblong, and totally white. Mod of the writers on birds have 
mentioned this fpecies. Aldrovand calls it Graculus palmipes Aridotelis, five Corvus 
aquaticus minor. Ray and Willughby, Corvus aquaticus minor, five Graculus pal¬ 
mipes. 
ALGA. 
T H E beak of the Alca is of a convex and compreffed figure, and is incurvated 
and furrowed, or fulcated in a tranfverfe direction : the feet dand very back¬ 
ward, and have each three toes. 
5 U 
Alca 
