14T 



PELKA. 



PKI.KCANID.E. 



!H 



OU DO longer be recognised ; and it i* probable that of all the flowers 

 which hav. been Acted upon by the band of man, the ftlarymi** ii 

 thai in which th* remit h been mo*t itriking. 



By ear* and attention to a few simple point* of practice time plant* 

 anr b cultivated and multiplied by any one who hai a greenhouse, 

 and beno* they bar* become universal favourite*. These point* are 

 the following, namely: 1, water; 2, warmth; 3, a gentle bottom 

 heat ; 4, abundance of air ; 5, a* much light a* the leave* will bear ; 

 and 6, a rich soil during the season of growth ; and a cool atmosphere, 

 lees water, abundance of light, and oloee pruning afterward*. 



PELEA. fAjrriLopKJt] 



FKLECA'NID.E, s family of \atatort,, or Swimming Birds. 



The genus PtUemaa of LinnBus, placed in the ' System* Natuno ' 

 between Ditmtdta and /'lotui, oontain* tho True Pelican* (Pelecanut 

 Omocntalii), the Frigate Bird or Man-of War Bird (TracKyptltt), under 

 th* designation of P. a<i*Uiu, the Cormorant* (P.Carbo and P. Graculta), 

 and the Solan Oooee and Boobiee. 



The Totipalme* of Curier (comprising tho*e Palmipede* which have 

 the hind toe united with the other* in a single membrane, perch on 

 tree*, are good fliers, and have abort leg*), consul of the Pelican* 

 (PtUcmut, Linn.), comprehending all thoee which hare the base of 

 the bill denuded of feather*. Their nostril* are slits, the aperture of 

 which is scarcely perceptible. The skin of the throat U more or lei* 

 extensible, and their tongue very small. Their delicate gizzard, if 

 guoard it may be called, forms one large *ac with their other stomachs. 

 Their C*MB arc only moderate or email The following are the genera 

 comprehended under the Pelican*: The Pelican* properly so called 

 (Owerofo/w of Brieson, PeUcanut of Illiger) ; the Cormoranta( Phala- 

 eroeonz of Brisson, Carlo of Meyer, Ualirtu of Illiger) ; the Frigate* 

 (PtUeautu Aquiltu, Linn., Tachyprta. Vieill.) ; the Boobie* (Suia of 

 Brisson, Dytpona of Illiger). The Pelicans arc succeeded by the 

 Anhinga* (I'lotu*, Linn.), and the Tropic Bird (Phaeton, Linn.). 



Mr. O. K. Gray, of the British Museum, in hi* ' List of the Genera 

 of Bird*, with an Indication of the Typical Species of each Genus ' 

 (London, 1840), make* the PeUcmnda the sixth and last family of the 

 Palmipedes, and separate* it into the sub-families Plotincr, Phatto- 

 niua, and PdteaHintr. The last sub-family consUt* of the genera Sula, 

 Onocntalut, PeUeatmt, Pkalacrocoras, and Pregala. 



fAeamui (Linn.). Bill long, straight, wide, very much depressed ; 

 upper mandible flattened, terminated by a very strong hook or nail, 

 which U compressed and very much bent ; lower mandible formed by 

 two osseous brandies, which are depressed, flexible, and united at the 

 point, and from which a naked ekin in the form of a bag is suspended. 



Foot of IMiMB. 



Foe and throat naked. Nostril* baial, in the *hape of longitudinal 

 lit*. Feet ctrong an 1 ihort ; three anterior toe* ; the hind toe is 

 articulated anteriorly, but on the aame plane with the others, and all 

 are united by a membrane ; middle claw without dentilation*. Wing* 

 moderate; first quill shorter than the wcond, which U the longest ; 

 greater wing-covert* and secondaries nearest to the body a* long a* 

 th* quill*. (Temm.) 



Th* true Pelican* are large and heavy blrdx, with a great extent of 



wing, and are excellent swimmers. The expansive pouch, whose 

 elasticity i* well known to all who have witnessed the shape* into 

 which it U itretched and formed by the itinerant ahowman, will hold 

 a ooniiderable number of fill), and thus enables the bird to dispose of 

 the superfluous quantity which may be taken during fishing expe- 

 dition*, either for it* own consumption or for the nourishment of it* 

 young. In feeding the nestlings and the male is said to supply the 

 wants of the female when sitting in the same manner the under 

 mandible is pressed sgainst the neck and breast, to assist the bird in 

 disgorging the contents of the capacious pouch ; and during this action 

 the red nail of the tipper mandible would appear to come in contact 

 with the breast, thus laying the foundation, in all probability, for the 

 fable that the Pelicau nourishes her young with her blood, and for 

 the attitude in which the imagination of painters has placed the bird 

 in books of emblems, &c., with the blood spirting from the wounds 

 made by the terminating nail of the upper mandible into the gaping 

 mouths of her offspring. 



The neighbourhood of rivers, lakes, and the sea-coa*U, are the 

 haunts of the Pelicans, and they are rarely seen farther than twenty 

 leagues from the land. They appear to be to a certain extent grega- 

 rious. Le Vaillant, upon visiting Dassen-Kyland, where was the tomb 

 of a Danish captain, at the entrance of Saldanha Bay, beheld, as he 

 says, after wading through the surf and clambering up the rocks, such 

 a spectacle as never perhaps appeared to tho eye of mortal. " All of 

 a sudden there arose from the whole surface of the island an impene- 

 trable cloud, which formed, at the distance of forty feet above our 

 heads, an immense canopy, or rather a sky, composed of birds of every 

 species, and of all colours cormorants, sea gulls, sea-swallows, pelicans, 

 and I believe the whole winged tribe of this part of Africa, were here 

 assembled. All their voices, mixed together and modified according 

 to their different kinds, formed such a horrid music that I was every 

 moment obliged to cover my head to give a little relief to my ears. 

 The alarm which we spread was so much the more general among 

 these innumerable legions of birds, as we principally disturbed the 

 females which were then sitting. They had nests, egge, and young to 

 defend. They were like furious harpies let loose against us, and their 

 crie* rendered us almost deaf. They often flew so near us that they 

 flapped their wings in our faces, and though we fired our piece* 

 repeatedly we were not able to frighten them ; it seemed almost 

 impossible to disperse this cloud. We could not move one step with- 

 out crushing either their eggs or their young ones; the earth was 

 entirely strewed with them." The same traveller found on the Klein- 

 Brak Kiver, whilst waiting for the ebb tide, thousands of pelicans and 

 flamingoes, the deep rose-colour of the one strongly contrasting with 

 the white of the other. 



The species of Pclecanut are widely spread (Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 and America), though not numerous : two are European, P. Onocro- 

 talui, and P. critput. We select the former as an example. 



P. Onocrotaiui, the Common European Pelican. Tho plumage 

 generally of a fine white tinted with light rose- or salmon-colour, which 

 is brightest in the breeding season, except the primaries and spurious 

 wing, which are black, and the depending occipital crest and a few 

 pendulous feathers on the lower psrt of the neck, which are light- 

 yellow ; naked space round the eyes and at the base of the bill, where 

 the frontal feathers form a point, fleih-colour ; the upper mandible 

 bluish, with a crimson line running along the top, reddish at the base, 

 yellowish at the tip, and tho terminal nail red; guttural pouch 

 yellow ; irides bright reddish-brown or hazel ; feet livid ; tail short. 

 Length from five to six feet ; expanse of wings twelve or thirteen feet 

 Sexes similar. 



The young of the year and those of a year old are whitish-ash 

 throughout ; belly whitish ; wings and back very deep ash ; all tho 

 feathers bordered with brighter ash; quills blackish-ash; bill and 

 naked part* livid ; iris brown. The first white feathers appear on the 

 neck and belly. (Temm.) 



Fish is the food of the Pelican, which it captures with great 

 adroitness, generally in shallow inlets. It is no diver, but it will 

 occasionally dash from a great height on the wing upon a fish with 

 such velocity that it becomes submerged, though its buoyancy brings 

 it instantly to the surface again. Although it perches on trees, it 

 eem* to prefer rocky shores. The nest, generally formed of coarse 

 reedy grass, with a lining of grass of a softer quality, is large (about 

 a foot and a half in diameter), and made upon the ground. Two, 

 three, four, and sometimes five pure white eggs, but mostly two, of 

 nearly the same size at both cuds, are laid in it 



Sonnerat found five under a female of this genus. She would not 

 rise to let him pass, but kept her seat She struck at him with her 

 bill, and screamed when he attempted to drive her from her eggs. 

 Labat fastened two young pelicans to a stake. The mother cl.-uly 

 brought them food, and remained with her young ones constantly 

 until the evening, when she flew up to roost in a tree immediately 

 above them. The trio became very familiar, suffering Labat to touch 

 them ; and the young ones gratefully accepted the little fish which be 

 offered to them, and which they firnt put into their pouches. These 

 IVlicans were, in all probability, not of the species under con- 

 sideration. 



This bird is found in the Oriental countries of Europe; common 

 on the river* and lakes of Hungary and Itussia ; tolerably abundant 



