The Pelican Brief

"A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His mouth can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak,
Enough food for a week.
I'm damned if I know how the hell he can!"

Dixon Lanier Merritt (1910). Apparently.

In myth pelicans are thought to wound their breasts to allow their young to feed on their blood when food is scarce.
These pelicans aren't in myth. They're in St.James's Park.