THE CRESTED PELICAN. 273 
large tuft or crest, hence the name it bears. Its European habitat is 
principally the marshes round the Black Sea, and the isles adjacent te 
the mouth of the Danube. 
Of their modes of life travellers in those regions give very inte- 
resting descriptions. Count Mukle states that they are plentiful on 
the lakes of Missolonghi and in the marshy grounds near Thermo- 
pyle. In situations difficult of access, such as floating islands 
Fig. 100.-The Crested Pelican, 
scarcely over the water-line, they place their hests, supported by the 
reeds and rushes. The vicinity of these breeding-places are rendered 
indescribably offensive by decomposed fish dropped about, and the 
disagreeable white dung with which all the neighbourhood is covered. 
“Time was,” says Mr. W. H. Simpson, “and that not so long 
ago, when Felicanus crispus* lived in hundreds all the year round 
from the rocky promontory of Kourtzalari, hard by the mouth of the 
Acheloiis, on the western extremity of the lagoon, near the island 
of AXtolico, up the northern arm, and on the east along the great 
* Bonaparte’s synonym for this species. 
