



PELECANIDJE PELECANUS 27 



the neck bent and the head close to the shoulders, and often ascend 

 to a great height in the air ; they also swim well and strongly, but 

 are said not to dive. They pursue their prey in considerable 

 numbers in a long line, driving the fishes before them ir^the shallow 

 water and catching them when floundering. They fill their elastic 

 pouches beneath their enormous bills with great quantities of 

 fishes, which they devour at leisure or carry off to disgorge to feed 

 their young. 



This Pelican was found breeding, by Andersson, near Lake 

 Ngami ; he states that the nest is built among the bushes, and that a 

 single white egg is laid in the month of June. It occurs about 

 several of the Guano Islands round the coast, but is not encouraged 

 at all, as it destroys a good many young Duikers. There are 

 eggs in the South African Museum from Dyers Island, on the 

 Caledon Coast, but the bird now breeds only on Quoin Eock, an 

 islet off Quoin Point some distance to the easb of Dyers Island. 



The eggs in the South African Museum are smooth long ovals of 

 a white colour, slightly stained with brownish ; they measure about 

 3-60 x 2-30. 



Dr. Kirk found a Pelican, probably of this species, breeding on 

 a low sand island at the Kingani mouth of the Zambesi ; the nests 

 were slight hollows in the sand with a few sticks as a platform, and 

 contained from two to four eggs. 



575. Pelecanus rufescens. Pink-backed Pelican. 



Pelecamis rufescens, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 571 (1788) ; Cretzschmar in 

 EiippeUs Atlas, p. 31, pi. 21 (1826); Gurnet/, Ibis, 1861, p. 135, 

 1868, p. 264 [Natal] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 282 (1867) ; P. L. Sclater 

 P. Z. S. 1868, p. 267, pi. 26 and fig. '4, 1871, p. 633; Sharpe, ed. 

 Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 777 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 161 (1896) ; 

 Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p 474 (1898) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. 

 p. 205 (1899) ; Eeichcnow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 102 (1900). 



Description. Adult in Breeding Plumage. General colour 

 throughout white, the interscapular region, middle of the back and 

 rump, flanks and under tail- coverts washed with pink; primaries 

 and primary coverts and their shafts black, the secondaries ashy- 

 black, gradually becoming white; tail-feathers twenty in number, 

 slightly ashy with dark brown shafts ; an occipital crest of narrow 



