m a ae” Le 
> \ - 
i 4 


"6 THE NATURAL HISTORY 
indeed they could have but very little occafion Fy 
them, becaufe they live only upon fifh, which the 
take under water. For this reafon, that good | 
Being has placed their legs much more backward 
than thofe of moft other birds. This enables | 
them to dive aftonifhingly well, and to purfue, 
and to overtake the fifh, even in their own ele. © 
“ment. | 
How Seer is the cattieariec of the Peli- | 
can. His pouch is a kind of magazine, in which 
he can ftore away a number of fifh’; and yet it is 
fo contrived by that wife and good Being, that it 
fhall keep the fifh cool, and without fpoiling. 
The Gannet, one of the Pelican fpecies, has 
ftrong wings. He darts like lightning ‘into ‘the 
watér, to a. prodigious depth, after his prey: he is 
“ys. provided with a very quick fight, that he may fee 
the fith. at a diftance, and he has a covering to 
preferve it. ‘ : 
The long neck of the Darter enables him in 
an inftant to ftrike his prey, and is another proof 
of the care that that good Being has taken for his 
prefervation. 
In the Divers, the legs are placed remarkably 

backward: they are flat and broad, and admirably 
¢ontrived to enable them to dive, to dart forward, 
and — 

