the calms, which at this period of the year are generally experienced ſeveral degrees further to the ſouth, before one arrives at the track of the regular winds.
The bird known among ornithologiſts by the name of pelecanus aquilus excited our admiration. We obſerved two of them who, whilſt they hovered at an immenſe height, eſpied their prey in the water, expecting the moment when it ſhould appear near enough to the ſurface for them to dart down and ſeize it.
The reaſon why theſe birds hover at ſuch a prodigious height above the ocean, is, undoubtedly, that they may take in a more extenſive view of its ſurface; but it is aſtoniſhing that they are able at that diſtance to perceive the ſmall fiſhes upon which they generally feed. It is a ſubject well worthy to be inveſtigated by natural philoſophers, whether this piercing viſion depends more upon the ſenſibility of the retina, or (as I rather ſuppoſe it does), upon the diſpoſition of the humours of their eye.
The pelican is known to be a great deſtroyer of the flying-fiſh. As ſoon as it eſpies one of theſe fiſhes, it deſcends from the more elevated regions of the atmoſphere, and remains hovering about fifty toiſes above the ſurface of the water, in order to ſeize its prey whenever it quits the ſea.
All
