61RDS. 317 
may be dilated to contain fish to a great weight, and some 
say fifteen quarts of water. This pouch Providence has 
allowed to the bird, that he may bring to his eyrie suffi- 
cient food for several days, and save himself the trouble 
of travelling through the air, and watching and diving 
so often for its food. The legs are black, and the four 
toes palmated. It is a very indolent, inactive, and inele- 
gant bird, often sitting whole days and nights on rocks or 
branches of trees, motionless and in a melancholy posture, 
till the resistless stimulus of hunger spurs it away, and 
forces it to distant seas in search of its nourishment : 
when thus incited to exertion, the Pelicans fly from the 
spot, and, raising themselves thirty or forty feet above 
the surface of the sea, turn their heads with one eye down- 
ward, and continue to fly in that position till they see a 
fish sufficiently near the surface. They then dart down 
with astonishing swiftness, seize it with unerring cer- 
tainty, and store it in their pouch. Having done this, 
they rise again, and continue the same actions till they 
have procured a competent stock. Whence it was that 
the ancients attributed to this stupid bird the admirable 
qualities and parental affections for which it was celebrated 
amongst them, is inconceivable ; unless, struck with its 
extraordinary figure, they were desirous of supplying it 
with propensities equally extraordinary. For, in truth, 
the Pelican is one of the most heavy, sluggish, and vora- 
cious of all the feathered tribes, and is but ill fitted to 
take those vast flights, or to make those cautious provi- 
sions which have been mentioned. It is, however, by 
no means destitute of natural affection, either towards its 
young ones, or towards others of its own species. 
Clavigero, in his History of Mexico, says, that sometimes 
the Americans, in order to procure, without trouble, a 
supply of fish, cruelly break the wing of a live Pelican, 
and, after tying the bird to a tree, conceal themselves 
near the place. The screams of the miserable bird attract 
