276 PELECANID^E. 



Family PELECANID^. 



Pelecanus manillensis, G-iuel. The Spotted-billed Pelican. 



Pelecanus philippensis, Gmel., Jerd. B. Ind. \\, p. 858; Hume, 

 Rouyh Draft N. $ E. no. 1004. 



The majority of the vast numbers of Spotted-billed Pelicans 

 that are found in India appear to go to Burma to breed. Mr. Gates 

 gives the following account of an enormous pelicanry he visited in 

 Pegu : " The only eggs I had of this species were some extracted 

 from females shot in the Sittang Eiver. Last November, however, 

 it was my good fortune to visit a pelicanry which, for extent, is 

 possibly not surpassed by any hitherto visited. 



" On the 8th November, 1877, 1 found myself at the pretty town 

 of Shwaygheen, the head-quarters of the district of the same name. 

 It is situated on the left bank of the Sittang about halfway between 

 Eangoon and Tounghoo. 'The country to the east of the river is 

 everywhere very hilly, and the Sittang appears to have worked 

 itself as far to the east as it is possible for it to get, for its further 

 progress in that direction is prevented by bold projecting hills of 

 laterite. The country to the west is, however, very different. It 

 consists of an immense plain of indefinite length, and extending to 

 the westward to the foot of the Pegu Hills. Certain small tracts 

 are cultivated, but the greater part of the plain is covered with 

 elephant grass or forest, and intersected by numerous creeks 

 choked up with drift and running nowhere in particular. They all, 

 however, ultimately discharge themselves into the Sittang. Con- 

 sidering that these creeks drain the whole eastern half of the Pegu 

 Hills, and have no fall to speak of after entering the plain, it is 

 not to be wondered at that the whole area under notice should, 

 during four or five months, viz., from July to October or November, 

 be nothing but a most dismal swamp, inundated to the depth of ten 

 feet in many parts. Such country is suited only for fishermen, 

 and we accordingly find them very numerous. Indeed the fisheries 

 in this plain yield a very large revenue and give employment to 

 large bodies of men. It is not, however, my intention now to 

 describe these fisheries nor the many ingenious methods employed 

 to catch the fish in shoals with the minimum of labour. I merely 

 wish to give some idea of the country in which Pelicans find a 

 suitable home. 



"Leaving Shwaygheen with my friend, Mr. Hough, the Deputy 

 Commissioner, we dropped down the Sittang for about ten miles 

 till we reached the mouth of the Hsa-zay Creek on the right bank. 

 We proceeded up this stream till evening, when we landed at a fishery 

 to dine. We, however, found the smell so bad that we pushed out 



