. Birds: the elements of ornithology . The Darter {Flatus anhinga). and traversing a hundred miles or more of aerial space inone day. Though not possessed of the powers of diving whichDarters and Divers enjoy, the Gannet, large and heavy birdthough it be, will suddenly descend and plunge directly dowiiFwards to catch the fish on which it feeds most greedily. It isvery local as to its breeding-places, there being but few such in INTEOJJUOTION. 27 Great Britain; amongst them the Bass Eock, Ailsa Craig, andLundy Island may be mentioned *. The G-annet, like the Cormorant, has a slightly distensibl
. Birds: the elements of ornithology . The Darter {Flatus anhinga). and traversing a hundred miles or more of aerial space inone day. Though not possessed of the powers of diving whichDarters and Divers enjoy, the Gannet, large and heavy birdthough it be, will suddenly descend and plunge directly dowiiFwards to catch the fish on which it feeds most greedily. It isvery local as to its breeding-places, there being but few such in INTEOJJUOTION. 27 Great Britain; amongst them the Bass Eock, Ailsa Craig, andLundy Island may be mentioned *. The G-annet, like the Cormorant, has a slightly distensiblenaked portion of skin at the top of the throat in front, extendingto the underside of the bill. This is greatly exaggerated in aBird which is entirely strange to our own climes, though acommon inhabitant of our Zoological Gardens. We refer to Fig. The Common Gannet the Pelican {Pelecanus onocrotaliis), the unwieldy form andawkward gait of which, as well as its long bill with the greatbag of skin beneath it and in front of the throat, must havestrongly impressed every one who has seen it. Unwieldyas it is, and very web-footed, it is fond of perching on inhabits Africa and the Western and Central parts of Asia * Thousands breed at St. Kilda. 28 ELEMBNTS or ORMTHOLOGT. and South-eastern Europe. Other species of Pelicans are alsofound in North and South America, and there are about tenin all. Pelicans go in large troops, and though, like the Gannet,no divers, they will, like that bird, sometimes dash down verti-cally into the water from a great height in pursuit of the fishon which they feed, resting a very brief time on the surfaceof the water to swallow their prey, tossing up their bill anddistending the pouch beneath it. Fig. 26.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpubl, booksubjectornithology
