PELEE 



PELICAN 



its important buildings are the Altar of Heaven, 

 with its surrounding temples and shrines; the 

 Temple of Heaven, in which the emperor at 

 midnight in the winter solstice once offered 

 sacrifices; and the Temple of Agriculture, near 

 which, each spring, the emperor plowed one or 

 more furrows to inaugurate the opening of the 

 season. In this section are found a great pow- 

 der factory, great pottery works and numerous 



The manufactures of Peking are unimportant. 

 industries are almost entirely related to 

 the government, only such commercial and 

 manufacturing enterprises bring carried on as 

 are necessary to supply the wants of its popula- 

 tion. Transportation is largely by covered 

 carte for heavy burdens, and sedan chairs for 

 passengers. 



History. The date of the beginning of Pe- 

 king is lost in antiquity. In 937 it was made 

 one of the capitals of the kingdom set up by 

 the Khitan Tartars, and was then called Nan- 

 king, or the Southern Capital. In 1264 Kublai 

 Khan (which see) made it his capital and built 

 the present Tartar City. The city was occupied 

 by thr Manchu conquerors in 1643. In 1860 

 it was surrendered to the English and French 

 allies (see CHINA, subtitle History oj China), 

 leading to the establishment of the various for- 

 eign legations in the Inner City. Since the 

 Boxer uprising in 1900, when foreign military 

 forces took poiin. much has been done to 

 improve the streets and the sanitary condition 

 of the city. According to a census taken in 

 1912, under direction of the Minister of the In- 

 terior, Pi-king has a population of 692,500; it 

 was believed before that date that it possessed 

 .1 million people. R.D.M. 



' of Peking ; Burton 

 iveloffuca. 



PELEE, pc la', MONT. See MARTIN: 

 PELICAN, ixl'ikan. "A funny old bird 

 thr i>rhr ;, familiar limrrirk, alluding 



to its ability in its beak food enough 



for a we** /. th;it the enor- 



pouch ;r r,, its grotesque-looking 



hill is capable of holding several quarts of 

 water, this statement does not seem exaggera- 

 ted. It is not water it stores, however, but 

 small fish which will later be feasted upon leis- 

 11 n ly or fed to its young. Both young and old 

 birds have voracious appetites. A curious sin!,- 

 it is to see a young pelican plunge its head deep 

 into the parent bird's pouch and dig out the 

 partly digested food. In motion pictures 

 are sometimes enabled to watch this opcrut 



During the feeding process the pouch is pressed 

 back against the breast, which gave rise to the 

 ancient legend that the pelican fed her young 

 upon her own blood, and led to the use of this 

 bird in heraldry and medieval art as a symbol 

 of charity, mother 

 love and self-sac- 

 rifice. The state 

 seal of Louisiana, 

 nicknamed the 

 Pelican State, 

 bears the heraldic 

 device called the 

 pelican in her 

 piety. 



The pelican is 

 the largest of the 

 web-footed birds. 



The American Hl ^-f^' long-lived, and so- 

 ciable and free. 

 white pelican, MONTOOMERT: Pelican 



which weighs 



about sixteen pounds, has a length of five 

 and a spread of eight to nine across the wings. 

 Its plumage is snowy white, with a tinge of 

 straw-color on breast and neck, and wings 

 partly black. During the breeding season the 

 male bird develops on its bill a homy, tri- 

 angular projection. This species is common 

 during the breeding season in the Mississippi 

 Valley and Canada particularly around Shoal 

 Lake in Manitoba and is occasionally seen 

 around the Great Lakes, but in the winter it 

 migrates to the Gulf coast and the marshy 

 lakes of the South. Its nest is built usually on 

 the shores of an island in an inland lake, and 

 consists of a mound of earth, gravel and sand, 

 roughly topped by twigs; among these twigs 

 are laid from one to four creamy or bluish- 

 white eggs, though most often only two. 



The birds are highly sociable, living in colo- 

 nies and frequently following a cooperative 

 plan in their fishing. The white pelican does 

 not dive for its food, as do most other varieties, 

 but swims quietly in the shallows, darting its 

 long, hooked bill into the water and then .-kil- 

 fully tossing its prey into the air and trans- 

 ferring it to the elastic pouch. It is a swift 

 swimmer, and is strong and graceful on the 

 wing but extremely awkward on land. It is 

 when the bird is doling after its gluttonous 

 meal that it is most easily captured, for its 

 drowsiness, added to its heavy body and 

 load of fish in its pouch, makes it difficult for 

 it to begin flight. 



Two others of the ten known species are 

 American the California pelican, and, very 



