OUR INDIAN PELICANS. 491 
centre, fading out gradually to a browinsh-grey on the edges; 
primaries brownish black; back and upper tail-coverts pure 
white, with none of the reseate tinge so prevalent in the more 
matured individuals; tail silvery white; shafts of the 
feathers of the tertials, secondaries, primaries, and tail black, 
white at their bases; bill clear yellow; the upper mandible 
with two rows of impressed black spots; bare skin round the 
eye yellow (entire underparts pure white, the feathers soft 
and downy), the colors present in life having all disappeared. 
Wing from carpal joint, 22 inches; tail, 8 inches; bill along 
culmen, 124} inches ; tarsus, 3? inches ; middle toe, 4 inches. 
“¢ Habitat.—Nubia, Abyssinia, Senegal, Madagascar, India, 
Cochin-China, Malacca, Philippines, Java, &c. 
“The synonymy of this species appears to be in a sad_ state 
of coufusion, arising chiefly from the doubts existing whether 
this bird, and P. philippensis, are distinct—a circumstance 
which may indeed be very seriously questioned, as the 
differences that are claimed as sufficient to separate them are 
very slight, and may only be the result of age * * * 
“The Pelecanus cristatus of Lesson appears to be a bird of this 
species. The long lanceolate feathers of the crest and back 
delicately tinted with yellowish, together with the square 
shape of the frontal feathers, would seem to point out the 
present bird. The pure white of the plumage (“plumage blane 
pur’) cannot be taken as referring to the entire bird, as 
further on the description says: “ Plumes du con et du dos 
minces, effilees, legerement soufrees,’? which is observed also 
in specimens of rufescens. The absence of all mention of 
rose color on the back arises probably from the fact of 
Lesson’s specimen not being in the dress of the fully 
matured bird, which we may suppose alone possess this beauti- 
ful hue. ‘ M4 * 
“The P. philippensis of Jerdon is undoubtedly the immature 
bird of P. rufescens ; and the young, as described by him, is a 
bird of this species in its first stage of plumage. * * * 
A specimen of this bird in the British Museum, from Nepal, 
Hodgson’s collection, is very interesting, asit is just changing 
to the adult plumage, and exhibits very distinctly the 
reddish color of the back and rump, while still retaining the 
black marks on the upper mandible, thus combining the 
characteristics of rufescens and philippensis, and showing that 
the latter supposed species is but the young of the former. 
“Tt is very difficult te decide what species Jerdon intends 
by his P. javanicus, as he seems to confound three in one, viz., 
P. javanicus, P. minor, and P. rufescens. He describes his 
bird as having broad black margins on each side of the 
tertiaries, which is truly a character of javanicus ; but then 
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