278 PELECANIDJE. 



bird would not fly off her eggs till I fired a gun. It was a most 

 ludicrous sight to see the sitting birds stretch neck and head out of 

 the nest to have a look at us, as often happened. 



" The only trees which the Burmans can climb on the spur of 

 the moment are those which their arms can encircle. To be 

 able to climb any tree it is necessary to make bamboo spikes 

 the day before. These are driven into the trunk as the man 

 mounts, and the operation, even for the tallest tree, does not take 

 very long. 



"Notwithstanding the millions of birds which breed in this 

 forest, a most wonderful silence prevails. The Pelican seems to 

 be perfectly mute, and the Adjutants only bellow at intervals. 

 The only sound which is constantly heard, and after a time 

 even this sound passes unnoticed, is a sort of .^Eolian harp caused 

 by the movement of the wings of innumerable birds high in air. 



" The eggs of this Pelican are pure white at first. As incubation 

 proceeds they change to a brown, and before hatching become 

 in^ some cases almost black. In texture they are very chalky, 

 and when the outer coat of chalk is scratched or removed, the 

 inner shell is smooth and white. The inner lining of the egg is 

 white, and consequently the eggs of the Pelican can never be mis- 

 taken for those of either of the Adjutants, in which the lining is dark 

 green. In shape the eggs are rather long and narrow, equally 

 pointed at both ends. The largest egg I have measures 3*3 in length 

 and 2-08 in breadth, and the smallest 2-65 by 2'05. Looking at a 

 large number, they appear more uniform in size than most eggs of 

 large birds." 



Colonel Legge, writing from Ceylon on the breeding of this 

 Pelican, remaks : " It breeds in February and March, forming 

 colonies in conjunction with other large Waders round lonely tanks 

 in unfrequented parts of the island. Layard mentions a large 

 breeding-place at one immense tank in the Northern Province 

 called Padawia, but I believe this is now dried up. 



" I found this species breeding at Uduwila Tank, near Tissa Maha 

 E-ama, in the south-east. The nests were large structures, made 

 of good-sized sticks and lined with small twigs ; they were placed 

 on the topmost branches of a description of thorny tree growing 

 in the-water. The diameter of the fabric was about 2 feet 6 inches, 

 large enough to contain two or three young, at an age when they 

 exceeded a goose in size, with the mother standing up by them ; in 

 the same trees were nests of Tantalus leucocephalus and Falcinellm 

 igneus, the eggs of which I did not procure as the young were 

 already fledged. The number of eggs in the Pelicans' nests was 

 three; long ovals in shape, and of a smooth chalky texture, dirty 

 white in colour. They were terribly soiled, as Pelicans' eggs always 

 are. The two in my possession measure 3-0 and 3-09 respectively 

 in length, and 2-19 and 2*15 in breadth." * 



* I am under the impression that I sent Mr. Hume a very large number 

 of Pelicans' eggs, but I regret that I cannot find any description of them amongst 

 his papers. En. 



