286 STEGANOPODOUS BIRDS. 



very different. In the skeleton the furcula is welded to the breast- bone, as in the 

 cormorants ; but the vertebrae of the back difier from those of the latter in having 

 saddle-shaped, instead of ball-and-socket surfaces for articulation with one another. 

 All the bones, and likewise the integuments, are penetrated to a most remarkable 

 extent by air-cavities. Pelicans, of which there are some half-score of kinds, are re- 

 stricted to the tropical and warmer regions of the globe, where they have a very wide 

 distribution. They are all very similar in general appearance and habits, although the 

 American white pelican {Pelecanns track yrhynchiis) differs from the rest in being 

 an expert diver. The common European pelican (P. onocrotalus), as the best known 

 representative of the genus, will serve to illustrate the habits of all. It belongs to 

 a group characterised by the feathers of the forehead extending forwards in a point 

 on to the upper part of the beak. During the breeding-season the back of the 

 head carries a somewhat elongated crest ; the upper mandible is reddish at the base 

 and yellowish at the tip, with a line of crimson along the middle, while the lower 

 mandible is pale red, and the pouch and naked space round the eye, as well as the 

 feet, are flesh-coloured. Of the plumage, the primaries and bastard- wing are black ; 

 the long feathers on the front of the lower part of the neck yellow ; and the 

 remainder white, with a tinge of rose-colour. The tail has eighteen feathers. In 

 birds of the first year, the plumage is a uniform greyish brown, the lanceolate 

 feathers of the breast being wanting ; and it is not till some years that the full 

 plumage is acquired, the depth of the rose tint being most marked during the 

 breeding-season. This species, which attains a length of about 5 feet, inhabits the 

 more southern parts of Europe and Northern Africa ; while it also occurs in West 

 Africa at Senegambia and Mozambique. While common in Hungary, the Crimea, 

 Egypt, and the Ionian Islands, it only occurs occasionally in France and Algeria. In 

 India there is a rather smaller form (P. ininor) distinguished by the presence of a 

 long pendent crest at all seasons ; this form also ranging over Greece, Egypt, 

 Abyssinia, and Western Africa. As to whether the common Bengal pelican is 

 identical with the European species, there is some doubt. The other European 

 species is the crested pelican (P. crisjnis), which belongs to the group in which the 

 feathers of the forehead are truncated in front and terminate more or less squarely 

 on the base of the beak. In this species the general plmnage is white tinged 

 with grey, the wing black, and the feathers of the crown and back of the head 

 crinkled and elongated into a large crest. The eye is silver-white, the beak 

 greyish yellow above, the pouch blood-red shaded with blue, and the foot black. 

 Fossil pelicans occur commonly in the Miocene dej^osits of Europe, and also in the 

 Pliocene of Northern India. 



Pelicans commonly occur in enormous flocks in the neighbour- 

 hood or swamj)s, estuaries, and rivers, and are sometimes so numerous 

 that in India Mr. Hume speaks of having seen miles of them. Their food is 

 mainly fish, of which they consume immense quantities, but crayfish have been 

 taken from the stomach of the American species. In fishing they generally select 

 water of sufficient depth to swim in, but which is not too deep to prevent them 

 touching the bottom when swimming with their heads beneath the surface. In this 

 posture a flock will frequently form a line or horseshoe, each bird stationed about 

 a yard from its neighbour, and will fish the water in a most regular and systematic 



