72 STltAV NOTES 0^ BlKDS. 



without bursting tbe poucb, now very tbin and debcate- 

 looking witb distention yet tougber even tban rubber. 

 Presuniabl}', in nature, tbe poucb would never become so 

 distended as this as tbe weigbt of fisb taken would not be 

 equal to tbe weigbt of water; but tbe experiment illustrated 

 nevertbeless tbe immense strength and elasticity of tbe 

 poucb and its wonderful capacity. 



Tbe occurrence of tbis pelican two hundred miles from tbe 

 sea or an estuary is unusual and remarkable. The three 

 stomachs were absolutely empty ; and this, taken witb the 

 occupation of tbe birds when seen and the fact that tbe 

 Umswirizwi — tbe only stream near — is at that point a mere 

 brook, points to tbe probability that tbey were travelling 

 and bad merely baited to rest. Tbe point they were at the 

 time making for was, I imagine, tbe Sabi River, thirty miles 

 to tbe west of where tbey were shot. W. L. Sclater (Fauna 

 of S. Africa, vol. iv. p. 26) gave Lake Ngami and the 

 lower Zambesi as the only places in the interior of S. Africa 

 at which, so far as he was aware, tbis pelican bad up to tbat 

 time been found. I do not know of any later occurrences 

 should such have been recorded. 



My cat, even when hungry, objected strongly to scraps 



of pelican-meat offered him. By no stretch of imauiiiation 



can a domestic cat be regarded as a potential enemy of a 



pelican, but I have bad much evidence nevertheless that 



indications of tbis kind are not entirely valueless (rf. 'Ibis,' 



1916, p. 541). 



Janus. 



Soon after tlie pelicans, came a Pearl-spotted Owl 

 (Glaucidum per latum) brought me alive by a native. 

 It lived only a few days — long enough, however, to enable me 

 to make a very striking observation. This was, tbat whenever 

 the little owl turned round bis bead and slept, his face, now 

 bidden, was replaced by the semblance of a yet more typically 

 owl-like face depicted on the nape, which now of course 

 usurped tbe usual position of tbe face, surmounting the 

 breast. Two large black markings, rather elongated down- 

 wards at their inner ends, and surrounded by white feathers 



