736 PELECANID^E. 



all they get. They breed either on high trees or according to situation low 

 thorny ones, making a huge nest of sticks. Not more than from five to 

 twenty breed on one tree. Eggs, three in number, white and extremely 

 chalky. * 



1453. PelecanUS CriSpUS, Bruch., Berl. Trans. 1838, t. 3, 4; 

 Naum. Vog. t. p. 283 ; Gould, B. Eur. pi. 406 ; Str. F. i. p. 288 ; vii. p. 288 ; 

 Murray, Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind., p. 248g; id*, Vert. ZooL Sind, p. 328 The 

 LARGE CRESTED PELICAN. 



In the adult in spring plumage, excepting the quills, primary coverts and 

 winglet, the whole plumage is white, with more or less of a pearly grey tinge 

 on both the upper and under surfaces according to the light in which it is 

 looked at ; there is a broad band at the base of the neck in front, and at the 

 sides faintly tinged with very pale straw colour ; there is not the faintest tinge 

 of rosy anywhere ; the whole of the feathers of the head and neck are very 

 narrow, long, soft and silky, much curled and twisted on the head, especially 

 behind and just above the eye; and the feathers of the back of the head are 

 much elongated, so as to form a dense, full crest, some 4*25 inches long ; a 

 line of feathers, about 15 inches wide down the whole back of the neck, is of 

 a more snowy and less pearly white than the rest of the neck ; the scapulars, 

 rump, and upper tail coverts and median and greater wing coverts are conspi- 

 cuously black shafted ; and all these, except the longest of the scapulars, are 

 very long and lanceolate. A few of the longest scapulars are broad and round, 

 or mucronate at the end ; back, scapulars and tail with a beautiful satiny gloss ; 

 the two exterior tail feathers with nearly the whole shafts black and generally 

 with a decided grey tinge on the outer w.eb to near the tip ; the rest of the tail 

 feathers with only the terminal third of the shafts black; primaries (all of 

 which are white at the base) and their coverts and winglet very dark brown 

 almost black; the second to the fifth primary emarginate on the outer web and 

 silvered with grey on the last above the emargination, which in the second is 

 hidden by the coverts ; there is more or less silvering of grey on the outer webs 

 of all the other primaries, their coverts and winglet ; the first five primaries 

 are faintly notched on the inner web, and more pale or greyish white on the 

 latter above the notches, while the rest of the primaries have the inner portions 

 of the inner webs white, this is still more conspicuous in the secondaries, most 

 of which have their whole outer webs a silver grey ; the tertials are pure white ; 

 the feathers of the base of the neck and breast thickly se.t, very narrow and 

 pointed, the filaments along the margin a good deal separated. 



The young bird wants the linear lanceolate feathers. It has the whole 

 head, neck, and upper and lower surface white ; the back of the neck more 

 or less shaded with grey ; tips of the quills and a row of small coverts near the 

 margin of the wing pale wood brown ; the feathers of the head shorter and 

 more fur-like than in the male; crest small; scapulars and shoulder feathers 



