alcatraz

The Sailor's Word-Book

The pelican. Alcatraz Island is situated in the mouth of the river San Francisco, in California, so named from its being covered with these birds. Also Alcatraz on the coast of Africa, from Pelecanus sula booby. Columbus mentions the alcatraz when nearing America, and Drayton says


"Most like to that sharp-sighted alcatras,

That beats the air above the liquid glass."