OUR INDIAN PELICANS. 499 
conviction is that it is onocrotalus, pur et simple. These birds 
all leave us in March, and we know from Captain Hutton, 
(J. A. S., 1847) that they pass through Kandahar in March, 
and I have no doubt many of them find their way to Smyrna 
and the coasts of Asia Minor, where in summer they are, or 
used to be—for I speak of nearly 30 years ago*—most abundant. 
I said above that there might be a second species belonging 
to this sub-group in India. I possess two specimens, both young 
birds, the whole lower plumage of one (and this, and the head 
and neck of the other, strongly tinged with ferruginous as one 
often sees in other water-fowls), possessing such exceptionally 
elongated and narrow bills that they may possibly belong to 
a distinct species. 
These birds are said to be male and female, and I contrast 
below the dimensions of their bills with those of the largest 
adult specimens of the other species which I possess :— 
Male. Female. 
Length. Greatest width. Length. Greatest width. 
Onocrotalus ... 17:5” 1°88” 1. 1°82” 
Dacca birds ... 18°1” Lae 14:75” 1:5" 
A young male onocrotalus in about the same stage of plumage 
has the bill 14” and the width 1°75.” 
The actual greater length coupled with the actual smaller 
width, is very striking, and these two birds may belong to a 
distinct species ; but, if so, what can it be? Schlegel gives 17” 
as the maximum length of the bill in any specimen in the 
Leyden Museum. It is certainly none of the species yet de- 
scribed, unless onocrotalus, and, if new, which I myself do not 
believe, it ought to stand as longirostris, for, unless these are 
altogether abnormal specimens, to judge from the difference of 
the bill in the young and old of onocrotalus, the adult should 
have a bill of at least 20 inches in length. 
Turning now to P. philippensis (or rufescens, if, as is possible, 
they are both the same bird) I would remark that at all ages and 
in all stages this species can be distinguished from all the 
others by the peculiar compression and convexity of the basal 
one-fourth of upper mandible. 
Strange to say, although this Pelican is the commonest 
throughout Upper India, I possess a very indifferent series, 
and can therefore add very little to what Mr. Elliott says. I 
would note, however, that I have no specimen in-the full 
breeding plumage described by him as that of the adult, 
and no specimen the upper mandible of which does not 
bear the double row of dark spots) The best plumaged 
adult that I possess, killed in August in Jhansi, has the 
whole head, neck all round, entire lower parts, lesser and 
*Over 40 years now.—A. QO, H, 
63 
