All the motions of the pelican are conducted with admirable dexterity: it does not dart head foremoſt, like moſt other birds that ſeek their food in the water; but placing its feet and neck horizontally and level with each other, it ſtrikes the air above it with its pinions, and then laying them croſsways upon its back, ſo as to afford the leaſt poſſible reſiſtance to the atmoſphere, darts down upon its prey, and ſeizes it almoſt the inſtant it has left the water.
We all of us pitied the poor flying-fiſh when we obſerved the aſtoniſhing ſkill of its enemy, which very ſeldom miſſes its aim. As the flying-fiſh raiſes itſelf but to a very ſmall diſtance from the ſurface of the ſea, the pelican would run the riſk of falling into the water, did it not poſſeſs the art of breaking its fall by ſuddenly expanding its wings, ſo as to be immediately able to mount again in queſt of another victim.
Though nature has given the flying-fiſh the power of living both in the water and in the air, it is very difficult for them to eſcape from their numerous enemies. If they evade the purſuit of the bonitos and dorados, by quitting the water, the pelican awaits them in the air. Some of them, reduced to this dilemma, were obliged to light upon our veſſel.
I found in the ſtomachs of ſeveral bonitos a
number
