Iv PELECANIDAE 8 
very slight, and almost invariably contains one egg, resembling 
that of the Cormorant. The young are fed by regurgitation, and 
both sexes are said to incubate, sitting very closely, and merely 
snapping at an intruder. The feathers are used for head-dresses 
in the Pacific Islands. 
Fam. V. Pelecanidae.—Velecanus onocrotalus, the Pelican, of 
South-East Europe, North-East and South-West Africa, reported 
also from France, Germany, and Denmark, is white with a rosy 
or salmon tinge, the primaries being black, and the moderate 
occipital crest and stiff elongated feathers of the lower fore-neck 
washed with yellow. The lores and orbits are naked, while an 
enormous dilatable semi-transparent pouch fills the space between 
the branches of the lower jaw. According to Mr. Dresser,! these 
parts and a fleshy knob appearing on the forehead in spring are 
yellow, the bill is bluish-grey with pink sides marked with red, 
and the feet are also pink. These colours, however, may vary 
with the season. In this species, and to a certain extent in 
P. erythrorhynchus, the feathering on the forehead ends in a point, 
but elsewhere is more or less concave anteriorly. Closely allied 
forms of doubtful validity are P. minor, with a somewhat similar 
range, P. sharpit of West Africa, and P. mitratus of South Africa. 
P. crispus, occupying a slightly more eastern area than P. onocro- 
talus, is distinguished from it by the curled filamentous plumes 
which overhang the sides of the head, the lack of rosy tints, and 
the flesh-coloured orbits. P. erythrorhynchus of temperate North 
America, found in winter down to Guatemala, resembles the last- 
named, but has a still more pendent nuptial crest, and in the 
breeding season develops a curious triangular horny excrescence on 
the middle of the culmen, shed about May. The chest and wing- 
coverts show a little yellow, the bill and naked parts are reddish, 
the feet orange-red, while the lower jaw is densely feathered. 
P. rufescens of the Ethiopian Region, apparently identical with 
P. philippensis of South Asia, is white, with black primaries, and 
a grey shade on the secondaries, tail, crested head, or even lower 
surface; the back is rose-coloured; the stiff feathers on the fore-neck, 
the bill and pouch, are yellowish, with vertical red lines on the 
latter. The remainder of the bare skin is flesh-coloured, and the 
feet are pink. P. fuscus of the warmer coasts of North America, the 
range of which south of Panama is uncertain, and depends upon the 
1 Birds of Europe, vi. 1879, pp. 193, 194. 
