242 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Berlin Museum I observed a specimen from Mozambique, the most southern 

 locality in Africa where I can state with certainty that this species is found. 



It remains to point out the characters by which P. roseus and P. ono- 

 crotalus may be recognized. In the first place, P. roseus is a smaller bird, 

 notably so with regard to the bill, which in the male never exceeds a length 

 of 16 inches and is usually under 15, measured from the forehead to tip ; 

 the female has the bill varying in length from 10' 75 to 12 inches and 

 never exceeding, even in very large birds, 12*5 inches. P. onocrotalus has 

 the bill in the male bird exceeding 17 inches and reaching up to 18, and 

 in the female it is usually 14 inches and never, so far as I am aware, less 

 than 13 inches. In the second place, P. roseus has invariably twenty-two 

 rectrices, P. onocrotalus twenty-four. This is the safest and surest test 

 when the tails are perfect, and even when imperfect it is seldom difficult 

 to arrive at the correct number. Professor Schlegel has suggested to me 

 that, like the Geese, the Pelicans may have a varying number of rectrices ; 

 but I am in a position to state that, with regard to the two species I met 

 with in Burmah, the rectrices are invariably twenty-two in number, neither 

 more nor less. All the specimens in museums, which from their size, 

 locality, and other characters should be P. onocrotalus, proved on exami- 

 nation to have twenty-four rectrices. Many mounted specimens were 

 obviously derived from zoological gardens, and in many cases the tails were 

 hopelessly imperfect. The same may be said of living birds, of which I 

 have examined nearly twenty ; the tail is usually imperfect, and the base 

 of the tail so covered with down that the number of rectrices cannot be 

 arrived at with any certainty. Yet, notwithstanding these drawbacks, I 

 counted a sufficient number of tails to make certain that P. onocrotalus 

 has twenty-four rectrices. A third point is the coloration of the imma- 

 ture birds. In P. roseus the young are chestnut below, and a tinge of this 

 colour is retained by even old birds ; in P. onocrotalus the lower plumage 

 in immature birds is brown of various shades, not rufous or chestnut. A 

 fourth point is, that in P. roseus in the breeding-season the forehead is not 

 swollen to any appreciable extent ; in P. onocrotalus it is swollen to such 

 an extent as to form a remarkable feature in the bird's appearance. A 

 fifth point is one on which I do not wish to lay too much stress, for I may 

 be wrong ; it is, that in P. roseus the adult male is not crested . 



P. longirostns } Hume (S. P. v. p. 491), belongs to the P. roseus type of 

 Pelican, where the frontal feathers terminate in a point. I have not been 

 able to examine Mr. Hume's type, and it is useless to hazard an opinion 

 about it; but I would remark that the length of the bill (18'1 inches) 

 is by no means too long for a male P. onocrotalus*. 



* I take this opportunity of returning my thanks to the authorities of the museums and 

 zoological gardens at Paris, Frankfort. Strasbourg, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Leydeu, 

 Rotterdam, the Hague, and Antwerp, for their courtesy in allowing me to examine, in the 

 fullest manner possible, all specimens of Pelicans, both living and stuffed, under their charge, 



