Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/264

 Only a single American species obtains its food by diving, the others are altogether too lightly built to render such a mode of fishing practicable. They lie upon the surface of the water as if they were made of cork, and it is only in shallow water, to the bottom of which they can reach with their long neck and hooked bill, that they usually fish for food. For this purpose they assemble together in some place where water is of the proper depth, arranging themselves with considerable regularity, so as to enclose a large space, which as they advance forward is gradually diminished. In large lakes and shallows by the sea-shore they arrange themselves in a semicircle, and row themselves gradually towards the beach, or else they form a complete circle, the diameter of which diminishes as they advance towards each other. In narrow rivers or canals they divide into two parties, and arrange themselves in close ranks facing each other, thus enclosing a space in which their prey is to be procured, as the two lines swim in opposite directions until they meet. In general these birds feed only on fishes, but not unfrequently they catch other vertebrate animals. Young birds, for example, that happen to approach them too closely are seized and swallowed, and even half-grown Ducks occasionally disappear down their capacious throats in an equally unceremonious manner. When on dry land the gait of these birds is slow and waddling, nevertheless they can scarcely be said to walk badly, and notwithstanding their webbed feet, they readily perch upon trees; they swim well, and their powers of flight are excellent. The daily life of the Pelicans is conducted in a very regular manner; the early hours of morning are employed in catching food, and they may then be seen hastening from all quarters to their fishing-ground, in small or large parties, the former flying in single file, the latter in the well-known V-shape adopted by many birds of passage. Some parties may soon be seen returning from the water, satisfied with their meal, while others are making their way towards the shallow bay from which their breakfast has to be procured. Towards ten o'clock a.m. they begin to congregate upon their favourite sandbank, or an inland group of trees, and here they repose after their toil, some lazily digesting their food, and others more actively employed in oiling and preening their feathers, a proceeding in which they are occupied for a considerable length of time, their long unmanageable bill being but little adapted to the work. When this is accomplished, they take a kind of siesta, some perched on trees, others on the ground, the former generally sitting bolt upright upon the branches, with their necks thrown back, and their beak resting on their breasts, while the latter generally lie flat on their bellies, and doze away the noontide hours. Between three and four o'clock the whole assembly begins to wake up and prepare for another fishing excursion, in which they are engaged till sunset, after which they at once set off to their sleeping-places, situated on a lonely sandbank, or some island covered with trees, upon the branches of which they pass the night. As to the breeding of these birds, we have been able to collect little from personal observation; it appears, however, by no means unlikely that in the interior of Africa some of them may build their nests in the trees, to which they so frequently resort. In Southern Europe, as Von der Muhle informs us, they select morasses and lakes for their breeding-places. In some of these lakes, says our informant, floating islands are to be met with, which are only approachable with great difficulty, and upon these they build their rudely-constructed nests, as close to each as other they can well be placed. The nests themselves are constructed of reeds and sedges, trodden together into a mass, and are generally damp or even wet. The whole neighbourhood is covered with their filth, the stench of which, added to that of the putrid fishes, which are everywhere strewn about, is at this hot season of the year, absolutely unbearable. Strangely enough they do not all breed at the same time, for brooding females are often sitting in the immediate vicinity of fledged young birds; indeed, Freyberg, who has often visited these breeding-places, informs us that in the same nest he has seen a nearly-fledged young one, and another as yet only covered with down, a circumstance only to be explained by supposing that two females had laid their eggs in the same nest. The usual number of eggs, as we are told by Bädecker,