distension, that it 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 aerie sufficient food for several days, and save himself the trouble of travelling through the air, and watching and diving so often for his food. The legs are black, and the four toes palmated. It is a very indolent, inactive, and inelegant 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 him away, and forces him to distant seas in search of his nourishment; when thus incited to exertion, they fly from the spot, and raising themselves thirty or forty feet above the surface of the sea, turn their head with one eye downward, 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 certainty, 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 Pelecan is one of the most heavy, sluggish, and voracious of all the feathered tribes; and is but ill fitted to take those vast flights, or to make those cautious provisions, 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 Pelecan, and after tying the bird to a tree, conceal themselves near

the place. The screams of the miserable bird attract other Pelecans to the place, which, he assures us, eject a portion of the provisions from their pouches, for their imprisoned companion. As soon as the men observe this, they rush to the spot, and after leaving a small quantity for the bird, carry off the remainder.

In America, Pelecans are often rendered domestic, and are so trained, that at command they go in the morning and return before night with their pouches distended with prey, part of which they are made to disgorge, while the rest is left to them for their trouble. This bird is said to live sometimes a hundred years.

Is a large water bird of the order of anseres, and of the pelecan genus, endued with a very voracious appetite, and consequently of a very rapacious disposition. He lives upon all sorts of fish; the fresh water, and the briny waves of the sea, both pay a large contribution to his craving stomach. The bill is about five inches in length, and of a dusky colour; the predominant tints of the body are black and dark green. Their smell, when alive, is excessively rank and disagree

able; and their flesh is so disgusting that even the Greenlanders, among whom they are very common, will scarcely eat them. They were formerly tamed in England for the purpose of catching fish, as the falcons and hawks were for chasing the fleet inhabitants of the air. We are told that the custom is still in full practice in China. This bird, although of the aquatic kind, is often seen, like the pelecan, perched upon trees. Milton tells us that Satan

-on the tree of life,

The middle tree, and highest there that grew,

Sat like a Cormorant,

In the year 1793, one of them was observed sitting on the vane of St. Martin's steeple, Ludgate Hill, London, and was shot from thence in the presence of a great number of people.

THERE are two distinct species of this elegantly formed and majestic bird, the wild and the mute, or tame; both bearing the general characters of the class, which they may be referred to, yet not exactly tallying with each other. The beak of the wild Swan is surmounted

with a yellow skin, which runs up to the eye. In the tame one this appendage (the use of which has not been yet sufficiently explored) is jet black, as are the feet in both species. The tame Swan is the largest of all web-footed waterfowl, some of them weighing about twenty pounds: the whole body is covered with a beautiful lily-white plumage; the young ones are gray; under the feathers is a thick but soft down, which is of very great use, and often employed as an ornament. The elegance of form which this bird displays, when with his arched neck and half-displayed wings, he sails along the crystal surface of a tranquil stream, which reflects, as he passes, the snowy beauty of his dress, is worthy of admiration. Thomson describes him in the following beautiful manner :

-the stately sailing Swan

Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale,
And arching proud his neck, with oary feet,
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle,
Protective of his young.

The Swan, for ages past, has been protected on the river Thames as royal property; and it continues at this day to be accounted felony to steal their eggs. "By this means their increase is secured, and they prove a delightful ornament to that noble river." Latham says, in the reign of Edward IV. the estimation they were held in was such, that no one who possessed a freehold of less than the clear yearly value of five marks, was permitted even to keep any. In those times, hardly a piece of water was left unoccupied by these birds, as well on account of the gratification they gave to the eye of their lordly owners, as that which they also afforded when they graced the sumptuous board at the splendid feasts of that period: but the fashion of those days is passed away, and Swans are not nearly so common now as they were formerly, being by most people accounted a coarse

kind of food, and consequently held in little estimation: but the Cygnets (so the young Swans are called) are still fattened for the table, and are sold very high, commonly for a guinea each, and sometimes more; hence it may be presumed they are better food than is generally imagined.

From the whiteness of this bird, the expression of a "Black Swan" was used in ancient times as equivalent to a nonentity; but a species nearly all black has been discovered of late years in New Holland. This bird is larger than the white Swan. Its bill is a rich scarlet. The whole plumage (except the primaries and secondaries, which are white) is of the most intense black. Swans are very long lived, sometimes attaining the great age of a century and a half.

Is very different in outward appearance from the last named bird. Stupidity in her looks, uncouthness in her walk, heaviness in her flight, are the principal characteristics of the Goose. But why should we dwell upon these defects? they are not such in the