signal was given the troop started forward,
beating the water with their outstretched wings, and holding their necks
far forward; their object being, as we soon afterwards discovered, to
drive before them into shallow water the fish swimming in the stream.

The two ends of the line advanced faster than the centre, so that in a
short time the birds formed a vast crescent, which stretched across a
good-sized bay; and as the distance from one bird to another was
measured exactly by the span of their wings, not a single fish could
break through the circle of menacing beaks. Indeed, the pelicans
enclosed the fish with their united wings in a regular line as close and
compact as a trawl or drag-net. As the circle gradually contracted, the
fish began to jump into the air, and to dart about in all directions,
leaving many a muddy streak to mark their course.

Besides the old "fugleman", there were several other patriarchs, who now
advanced into the water to perform the office of fishermen. Standing
perfectly motionless, they seized the fish as they passed, and stowed
them away methodically in their enormous pouches under their beaks. The
whole of this time the rest of the troop continued to beat the water
with their wings, and appeared to be fully occupied in preventing their
prey from escaping, without attempting to catch any in their own beaks.

This curious fishing appeared to have excited immense interest among the
feathered tribes of the neighbourhood. Birds of every description were
collected on the surrounding trees, filling the air with their
discordant cries, apparently jealous of the pelicans, and eager to take
a part in the feast which they were engaged in providing.

Clouds of gulls and sea-mews fluttered over the surface of the water,
seizing any small fry they could reach, while robber crows quarrelled
over scraps of stolen fish; and three or four bold grebes succeeded in
getting into the circle, where they floated and dived at leisure,
successfully avoiding the numerous thrusts aimed at them by the
formidable beaks of the pelicans.

Several cormorants, perched on the trunks of submerged trees, now and
then darted down like arrows on some big fish which their keen eyes had
espied, and as they rose, tossing them up in the air with their tails,
they never failed to catch them again by the head, and swallow them at a
mouthful. The pelicans did not venture to interfere with these rovers
of the deep, being