1897] E. E. Prince.— The Pelican. ioi 



afford a most remarkable case of commensalism or exalted par- 

 asitism, even more remarkable than that of the association of 

 the Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia, Mol.) and the so-called 

 Prairie Dogs. 



The male pelican, during the breeding period, shows certain 

 features prominently, such as the thick bunch or crest of white 

 plumes passing down from the back of the head. A dry feathery 

 bunch of plumes decorates the breast similar to the '' powder- 

 down " tract in the Heron (Ardea). These breast-feathers are 

 often said to be phosphorescent, and when the pelican is fishing 

 at night they are declared to lure the fish. The beak, at the 

 period of nesting, exhibits an erect flat plate of yellow horny 

 substance, some little distance from the tip of the upper man- 

 dible. Behind this large plate, about one and a half or two 

 inches high, and two or two and a half inches long, there are 

 several smaller erect plates, forming a saw-like ridge along the 

 top of the beak. The adjacent surface, moreover, shows large 

 flat scales, and at the tip of the upper mandible there is a sharp 

 tooth-like hook almost as large as the nail of the little finger 

 and actually pointed. 



The male and female birds are alike in coloration, and 

 this and some of the other features just mentioned support 

 Stejneger's view that these birds, the Steganopodes generally 

 indeed, are closely related to the Herodiones (the Herons and 

 Storks). 



