336 



Pelecanus philippinensis, Wafden, Tr. Z. S. ix } p. 246 ; Legt/f, Birds 



Ceyl. p. 1 198. 

 Peleeanus manillensis, apud Oates, B. B ii, p. 236 : id. in Humes 



N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 276 ; nee Gmel. 



The Grey Pelican, Jerdon. 



Coloration. In breeding-plumage (September to February) the 

 greater part of the plumage is white : the lower back, upper 

 rump, flanks, vent- feathers, and lower tail -co verts vinaceous pink ; 

 crown and neck-feathers short, curly, white, dark brown at the 

 base ; a slight crest and a ridge *>r mane of longer brownish 

 feathers down the back of the neck : scapulars, median and greater 

 wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts with black shafts ; lesser and 

 median secondary-coverts elongate and pointed ; primaries and 

 primary-coverts black or dark brown, terminal halves of secondaries 

 blackish or brown : tail light ashy brown. 



Young birds and old birds from March to August have the head 

 and neck white, with black bases to the feathers; back white; 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, and flanks white, with brown shai't- 

 stripes ; wings and tail brown ; lower plumage whity brown ; 

 wing-coverts short, not lanceolate. Both breeding and non- 

 breeding plumages are assumed by a moult. The full breeding-dress 

 is not assumed till the fourth year ; in the second and third years 

 the assumption is only partial. Mr. Oates, who kept Pelicans for 

 several years and studied the changes of plumage, has given a full 

 account of them. 



Bill pinkish yellow, the lateral portions of the upper mandible 

 with large bluish-black spots; the nail and terminal halves of both 

 mandibles orange-yellow 7 , the central portions of the sides of the 

 lower mandible smeared with bluish black; pouch dull purple, 

 blotched and spotted with bluish black ; eyelids and skin round 

 the eye orange-yellow, skin in front of the eye livid ; irides stone- 

 white, varying to pale yellow clouded with brown ; legs and feet 

 very dark brown (Oales}. Tail-feathers 22. 



Length 57 ; tail 7'5 ; wing 22 ; tarsus 3'5 ; bill from gape 14. 

 Females are a little smaller. 



Distribution. Throughout the better-watered tracts of India, 

 Ceylon, and Burma, and the whole Oriental Region. 



Habits, tyc. This is the only Pelican that has been observed to 

 breed within Indian limits. Several breeding-places have been 

 noticed in Ceylon, where the breeding-season is between December 

 and March. Jerdon states that he visited one breeding-place in 

 the Carnatic, but the birds were absent, and of late years no 

 authentic account of Pelicans breeding in India has appeared. In 

 Burma, however, Oates visited a forest near Shwe-gyen, on the 

 Sittang, where this bird breeds in enormous numbers in November, 

 making its nests of sticks on high trees, there being from three to 

 fifteen nests in one tree. The area in which these birds breed 

 is about 20 miles long by 5 broad. The eggs, three in number, 

 are white and. chalky, always greatly soiled during incubation, and 

 they measure about 3 by 2'15. 



