STEGANOPOD CHARACTERS 



tree upon which the bird is perching. One cannot but 

 think with Dr. Gadow, that the undoubted inheritance 

 of these characters is in favour of the transmission of 

 acquired characters, that bone of contention among 

 zoologists. It is as well to be particular even in de- 

 scribing a disagreeable odour. But statements by 

 actual observers differ greatly as to the substance most 

 generally known with which this odour is best to be 

 compared. Mr. Quelch says : " Musk combined with 

 wet hides." M. Deville said : " A cow-house." We 

 incline to the cow-house view. 



THE PELICAN 



Pelicans are among the birds which do best in cap- 

 tivity, at any rate in captivity at the Zoo. This is 

 shown by their extreme longevity in that institution. 

 One individual, hoary with age, died only a year or two 

 ago, having been inspected by the public since the year 

 1868. We do not know, of course, that this is not ex- 

 ceptional in another way ; the pelican may have been 

 cut off in the flower of its youth ! The pelican is 

 distinctly not of the wilderness, but of water courses, 

 where it can swim and fish. No one can easily confuse 

 a pelican with any other bird. Its large size, unwieldy 

 proportions, and huge beak with dependent baglike 

 throat for the storage of fish, betray it even to the non- 

 expert eye. The top half of the bill has a little bend 

 just at the tip to pinch effectively the slippery prey. 

 The feet are webbed, very thoroughly webbed. All 

 four toes are connected by webbing ; and this is one, 

 and indeed the chief, reason for uniting the pelican with 

 the cormorant, the gannet, the tropic bird, the darter, 

 and the frigate bird, to form the group Steganopodes ; 

 Professor Huxley called them Dysporomorphae on 

 account of the fact that the nostril is almost, or some- 

 times, as it appears, quite choked up by growths of 



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