236 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Family PELECANID^. 



Genus PELECANUS, Linn. 



606. PELECANUS MANILLENSIS. 



THE SPOTTED-BILLED PELICAN. 



Pelecanus manillensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 571. Pelecanus philippensis, 



Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 571; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 858 ; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 268; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 658 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 194 ; Oates, S. F. v. p. 169 David 

 et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 531 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 495 ; Oates, S. F. vii. 

 p. 41 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 116 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 247. Pelecanus rufescens, 

 apud Elliot, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 583 (part.). Pelecanus roseus, apud Salvad. 

 Ucc. Born. p. 363. Pelecanus philippinensis, El. B. Burm. p. 164 : Anders. 

 Yunnan Exped. p. 695 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 1198. 



Description. Nestling. Covered with white down ; iris dark brown ; 

 bill pale plumbeous ; legs china- white ; pouch pale bluish white. 



The down on the wings soon turns to pale rufous, and the scapulars, 

 when they appear, are brown edged with ferruginous ; the wing-coverts on 

 making their appearance are furnished with a dense fringe of rufous down, 

 which, however, soon falls off, leaving the feathers with rufous margins. 



The scapulars are developed very rapidly and their ferruginous margins 

 are diminished in extent as the bird grows ; the down on the head and 

 neck gives place to brownish feathers, and the crest and loose feathers of 

 the mane on the hind neck soon make their appearance. 



The young bird when fully fledged retains its first feathers for at least 

 one year, the only change being that the brown colours become darker and 

 the rufous edgings abraded and consequently less marked. The impressed 

 spots on the bill are not indicated till the eighth month, and even at the 

 end of twelve months these spots are quite indistinct compared with those 

 of the adult bird. Towards the end of the first year a livid spot appears 

 in front of the eyes and soon becomes clearly defined ; the nail and the 

 terminal third of the edges of the bill are yellow ; the legs and toes flesh- 

 colour. 



After the first moult, at about twelve months of age, the whole head and 

 neck are covered with short soft downy feathers, the bases of which are 

 black, the tips white ; and the crest and mane are developed to the same 

 extent as in the adult ; the shoulders and scapulars wood-brown ; lesser 

 and median coverts to the secondaries wood-brown, the feathers all edged 

 paler ; greater coverts darker brown, edged with light brown ; coverts 

 to tertiaries greyish brown, edged with pale fulvous ; the whole of the 

 coverts narrow and sharp-pointed ; winglet, primaries and their coverts 



