SIX months' bird collecting in EGYPT. 237 



212. White Pelican, Pelicamis onocrotahis, Linn,; 

 (Hasselquist, pp. 85,208,210); " Bagah." 



The Pelicans which we saw on lake Menzaleh were pre- 

 sumedly of this species. There is a neck of land called 

 Sayal, an hour and a quarter's walk from Damietta, over 

 which Pelicans not infrequently pass, and in tempestuous 

 weather they may be got by lying up, but their feathers are 

 such a tough armour that many are hit for one that is killed. 

 At this place they flew very low, but we did see some flocks 

 at a far greater height, and one bird aftervvaixis circling 

 right over the town of Damietta. I do not remember see- 

 ing any Pelicans from the time we left Damietta until the 

 nth of March, when six rosy ones were descried on a sand- 

 bank near Girgeh. I do not know how long it takes for a 

 Pelican to arrive at maturity, though it might easily be 

 ascertained from the numerous specimens kept in confine- 

 ment, but certainly in the same flock you may see some far 

 larger than others, and much rosier. The roseate colouring 

 of the adult Pelicans is probably more intense during the 

 breeding season. We were too late to see many on the Nile ; 

 occasionally we met with a single one or a pair migrating 

 north, and once, on the i6th of May, I counted about fifty- 

 seven high up and going in the same direction, but we 

 never had the good fortune to come across such an immense 

 flock as Captain Shelley tells of, although we were near the 

 same place at about the same period of the year. On 

 enquiry we were told that we had come much too late for 

 Pelicans, and that they were only common in the winter. 

 This I dare say was true, as I know that other boats had 

 obtained them ; possibly they go to the large lakes in the 

 Delta in April to breed. Hasselquist says that some re- 

 main at Damietta and on the islands of the Delta in 

 summer. 



As it was we were content to get one specimen — a fine 



