96 THE NATURAL HISTORY 
_ indeed they could have but very little occafion for 
them, becaufe they live only upon fith, which they 
take under water. For this reafon, that good 
Being has placed their legs much more backward 
3 than thofe. of moft other birds. This enables 
them to dive aftonifhingly well, and to purfue, 
and to overtake the hth, uf in. their own ele- 
ment. 
How wonderful is the contrivance of the Peli« 
can. His pouch i is a kind of magazine, in which 
he can ftore away a number of fifth ; and yet it is 
{fo contrived by that wife and good Being, that it 
- fall keep the fith cool, and without fpoiling. 
The Gannet, one of the Pelican. {pecies, has 
: ftrong wings. He. darts like lightning into the. 
water, to a prodigious depth, after. his prey: he.is | 
provided with a very quick fight, that he may fee 
the fifh 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 i is another proof , 
- of the canathat that good Being has taken for NS 
prefervation, 
In the Divers, the legs are stheed see 
backward: they are flat and broad, and admirably 
. contrived to enable them to be . dart forward, 
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