84 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
equal length, and hooked downwards at the 
extremities. Although many other birds, such 
as the eagles and vultures, are characterized 
by the sharply-hooked ending of the upper 
mandible, yet in these the lower one is in¬ 
variably of a more or less straight type, and 
overhung by the upper one. 
The pelicans are a group of birds that not 
only have a very highly-developed form of 
beak, but in addition they possess a capacious 
and dilatable pouch, attached to the lower 
mandible, and capable of holding a large 
quantity of food. 
Unfortunately, this somewhat unusual capa¬ 
city for storing food does not always prove 
an unmixed blessing, for notwithstanding that 
the pouch may be capable of holding a dozen 
fish or more, yet, as only one of these can be 
swallowed at a time, when other hungry 
pelicans are in the immediate vicinity the bird 
must either retain the fish unswallowed within 
its pouch, or else run the risk of their being 
appropriated by its companions when released 
for individual attention. 
During the courtship season the males of 
the white pelican acquire one or more horny 
and upstanding excrescences upon the upper 
mandible, which are ultimately shed. 
There can be few people who fail to respect 
