28 PELECANIDJE PELECANUS 



lanceolate feathers four to five inches long ; on the chest is another 

 clump of similar lanceolate and pointed feathers. 



Iris yellowish-brown mottled darker ; bill yellowish-white, the 

 nail at the tip of the upper mandible orange ; pouch flesh-coloured, 

 with fine transverse equidistant parallel lines ; legs yellowish- white. 



Length 56-0 ; wing 22-5 ; tail 7-5 : culmen 13-5 ; tarsus 3-25. 



In the non-breeding plumage and in young birds the wings are 

 brown throughout, there is no pink wash on the back, flanks and 

 under tail-coverts, these parts being white ; the tail is dark brown 

 with the base white. 



FIG. 7. Head of Pelecanus rufescens. x -5 



Distribution. The Pink-backed Pelican is confined to Africa and 

 Madagascar, ranging from the Gambia and Abyssinia southwards to 

 the Cape. 



It is by no means a common bird within our limits, and is much 

 less often met with than the White Pelican ; in fact, so far as I am 

 aware, it has only been observed by Messrs. Layard and Ayres, by 

 the former near Cape Town and at Zoetendals Vlei, in the Bredas- 

 dorp district, and by the latter in Natal, in Durban Harbour. Mr. 

 Wood informs me that an example was recently shot about twenty 

 miles up the coast from East London, and is now preserved in the 

 King William's Town Museum. 



Habits. Ayres gives a good account of the habits of this Pelican 

 as follows : " These birds frequent the bay and the mouths of rivers 

 on the coast ; their food, I believe, consists entirely of fish. They 

 appear to feed in the evening and early in the morning, basking in 

 the sun during the day. They are gregarious, and may be seen 



