448 



EASTERN EUROPE 



return in the evening. The white pelican, which is as large as a swan, measuring 

 5 feet in length, has the primary wing-feathers black, the secondaries blackish 

 on their inner webs, a yellowish patch on the chest, and the rest of the plumage 

 pinkish white. A crest curving forwards on to the beak distinguishes the species 

 from the Dalmatian pelican (P. crispus), in which the feathers of the forehead 

 curve back sharply on the base of the beak. 



The latter species inhabits the lower Danube in the Dobrudscha, Dalmatia, 



Greece and southern Russia, the 

 Caspian, and Egypt and Nubia. 

 In colour it is white with a grey- 

 ish tinge, the yellow patch on 

 the throat is larger than in the 

 common species, and there is 

 more black on the primaries, 

 scapulars, and greater wing- 

 coverts. The legs and feet, in- 

 stead of l'osy pink, are deep grey, 

 and the length of the bird fre- 

 quently reaches 72 inches. The 

 crested P. mitratus, which re- 

 sembles the roseate species but 

 is pure white and much smaller, 

 sometimes not larger than a 

 goose, is found in the countries 

 round the Black Sea and Caspian, 

 and rarely in Moldavia and other 

 parts of eastern and southern 

 Europe, although it is mainly 

 African, and most common in 

 lower Egypt. 



Black-Tailed A not uncom- 



Godwit. moll bj r( ] in eastern 

 Europe, belonging to a very 

 different group, is the black - 

 tailed godwit(Zn}jo-s<f ruflnvv ra ). 

 which inhabits the larger swampy 

 districts. The nest, which is 

 built amid short grass, not far 

 from water, is merely a slight depression without much lining; and towards 

 the end of April contains four eggs. The black-tailed godwit is well known 

 in England, but rare in Germany, where it is found only at a few places in 

 the west of Schleswig-Holstein, in Oldenburg, and Friesland, and more seldom 

 in Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Silesia. In some districts of Holland, Belgium. 

 and France, and more especially in Hungary, it breeds frequently. A very 

 wary bird, it avoids the neighbourhood of human beings, and on the approach 

 of anything suspicious stands for a few moments upright, never crouching 



^c» 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 



