452 
PELECANUS CRISPUS. 
grounded in 2 or 3 feet of mud, and when the party had floundered through 
this, the seven nests were discovered to be empty. A fisherman had plundered 
them that morning, taking from each nest one egg, all of which we of course 
recovered, The nests were constructed in a great measure of the old reed 
palings used by the natives for enclosing the fish, though with these were 
mixed such pieces of the vegetation of the islet as were suitable for the purpose. 
Tbe 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 30 inches 
high, the two next in line on each side being about 2 feet high, the two nests 
forming each arm of the cross a few inches lower, and the two extremes at 
either end being about 14 inches from the ground. These latter, it is 
presumed, were intended for the junior partners of the firm, in the same way 
that the great bear of nursery tales has a big seat, his wife a middling seat, 
and the little bear a small seat. The eggs are chalky, like those of the 
Pelecanide generally, very rough in texture, and some of them much streaked 
with blood.”} 
[§ 5171. Fowr.—* Sarepta.” From Herr Méschler, 1866. ] 
[§ 5172. One. 
Above Rassova, Bulgaria, 11 April, 1869. 
«“T. E: B.” From Mr. Buckley. 
(§ 5173. One—Above Rassova, Bulgaria, 11 April, 1869. 
“HH. J. HE.” From Mr. Elwes. 
Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, writing on the Birds of Turkey in ‘ The Ibis’ for 
1870 (p. 335), say of this species :—“ We were told that Pelicans bred in the 
ereat marsh of Janitza, which is quite impenetrable, except in one or two 
‘narrow channels. On the 11th of April we visited a lagoon which runs back 
from the Danube three miles above Rassova, whither a great number of 
Pelicans resort to breed. We had much trouble in getting a boat, as the 
Circassians who lived there would not allow us to go in theirs; but at last we 
brought a dug-out canoe in a cart from Rassova, and launched her on the lake, 
which was surrounded by a deep bed of tall reeds. We paddled up to the top 
of it, disturbing numbers of Geese, Grebes, and Ducks, and came at last to the 
breeding-place of the Pelicans. The nest consists of a shallow depression in a 
large strong platform formed by reeds broken down and heaped together in the 
water; and on this great heap of decaying matter the eggs were laid. Many 
of the nests contained two or three; but all of them were quite fresh, and in 
some instances covered with bloody marks, as if they had cost a severe effort 
to lay. The old birds, when disturbed by our approach, flapped off heavily 
and began soaring about above us. It is wonderful to see the ease and grace 
with which they fly when once fairly on the wing, mounting up with hardly a 
motion of the wings until almost out of sight, and soaring round and round 
like Vultures.” ] 
