296 DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS. 



foul fish th«y have 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 Pelicanus 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 JEtolico, up the northern arm, and on the east along the 

 great mud flats which mark the limits of the present delta of 

 Phidaris. Nowadays, however, a solitary individual may be seen 

 fishing here and there throughout the vicinity ; the remnant have 

 betaken themselves to the islands which divide the Gulf of Proco- 

 panisto from that of -3^]tolico. Here, towards the end of .February 

 last, the commimity constituted a group of seven nests — a sad fall- 

 ing ofi" from the year 1838, when thirty-four nests were grouped 

 upon a neighbouring islet. As we approached the spot in a boat 

 the Pelicans left their nests, and taking to the water, sailed away 

 like a fleet of stately ships, leaving their preconcerted nursery in 

 possession of the invader. The boat grounded in two or three feet 

 of mud, and when the party had floundered through this, the 

 seven nests were found to be empty. A fisherman had plundered 

 them that morning, taking from each nest one eg^, which we 

 afterwards recovered. The nests were constructed in a great 

 measure of the old reed palings used by the natives for enclosing 

 fish, mixed with such pieces of the vegetation of the islet as were 

 suitable for the purpose. The seven nests were contiguous, and 

 disposed in the shape of an irregular cross, the navel of the cross, 

 which was the tallest nest, being about thirty inches high, the two 

 next in line being about two feet, and the two forming the arms 

 being a few inches lower, the two extremes at either end being 

 about fourteen inches from the ground. . . . The eggs are chalky, 

 like others of the Pelicanidse, very rough in texture, and some 

 of them streaked with blood." — (" Ibis," vii. p. 395.) 



The Brown Pelican (P./kscus). 



The Brown Pelican is an American species, smaller than the 

 preceding, and is described at some length by Nuttall. It has the 

 head and the neck variegated with white and ash-colour ; all the 



