FIGARO'S NATURAL HISTORY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 117, 12 July 1873, Page 6

FIGARO'S NATURAL HISTORY.

THE PELICAN. The pelican is a bird found in Africa and the northern part of South America. It also finds itself in fish, and feeds its young ones on its own vitals. Its bill is an enormous one, so long, indeed, that Buffon would have more clearly exemplified his claim to be considered a natural historian of merit, had he, in this case, called it its William, instead of its bill. But as he says bill, we will say bill also. It is very often fifteen inches long ; and as its mouth lies behind it, the pelican may be said to go about habitually with more than a foot in its mouth. Hanging from the lower lip of the bill is an enormous pouch, capable of containing fifteen quarts of water. I once had a bill which contained a whole pipe of sherry and a quantity of claret as well, but that was from my wine merchant, when the times were more prosperous, and should not be dwelt upon here. Indeed, it should not be dwelt upon anywhere, for it is not well to live on bills, if you can possibly manage to pay cash. When it goes out on a foraging expedition, the pelican fills its pouch with fish. It then returns to its nest, and digests its finny booty at its leisure, dwelling especially on the more toothsome denizens of the deep. It is peculiarly fond of the haddock and the red mullet, and fills up the interstices in its pouch with shrimps, which latter creatures afford the pelican much pleasure by gently tickling the roof of its bill.

Many mythical stories are told of the pelican. According to some historians, it dwells sometimes in the wilderness, and lives on sand and half-bricks. Herodotus mentions this several times ; but, then, he mentions that also, and these and those ; so it is not well to too implicitly rely on what he'sa}'S. Pliny writes an epigram on the bird. It would seem that he met an Ethiopian serenader in Alexandria, who told him the sand and half-brick yarn. On getting home, Pliny wrote as follows (I give a free translation) — Eat bricks and sand, O Ethiop man, Tou say the Afric peli-can ; Believe you, though, I really shanfc, Eat bricks and sand tke peli-can't! Buffon is more guarded about the bird. It is not he who says the pelican feeds its young in times of scarcity with titbits from under its own liver wing. Indeed, I am not quite certain who does say this ; but whoever says it ought to know better, if, indeed, he does not know best.

There are some pelicans in the !Regent's Park Zoological Gardens. Monday is the sixpenny day; or, if you know a Fellow, you can get in for nothing on Sundays. Or say to the man at the gate, "lama Fellow." If

he says, "Where's your ivory ?" show him your teeth, and imply by gestures th»t you mean to present a very valuable wild beast to the society during the ensing week. Should he still be obdurate, mention my name, and enjoy yourself outside as well as you can. Pelicans can be tamed. I know a man who tamed one. He got wild himself while he was about it. When in a tame state, the bird eats dried sprats and kipperd bloaters, and drinks a great deal of water. My friend's peiican followed him about. The fishmongers in the neighbourhood used to follow about the pelican with large sticks and brush handles, and one day they broke its bill. That settled it—l don't mean the bill, but the bird." It was indeed receipted ; it never got up again. My friend took it to heart; he also took it to a plumassier, and had it stuffed. It is now in a glass case in the Fishmonger's Hall, London Bridge. We had better leave it there.—Yours baggily, O. P. Q. Philander Smiff.

P.S Since writing the above, the rabbit has been seized with convulsions, and has died iu great agony on the hearth-rug. As far as I can see at pre* sont, the unhappy creature must have swallowed a cork.