Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, &fc. Ill 



days without food ; but the testes were large and well deve- 

 lopedj and the specimen is to all appearance an adult male. 



This species, if distinct from S. fiber, as Bonaparte^s descrip- 

 tion would show it to be, must be the bird of Japan hitherto 

 mistaken for that bird. Large numbers of a white-backed spe- 

 cies were seen by me off the coast of Siam ; they might have 

 been S. piscatrix, but they looked to me more the size of S. bas- 



sana. 



Robert Swinhoe. 



Amoy, 5th October, 1864. 



Sir, — On the 19th September a Pelican was shot and brought 

 to me by the constable attached to this Consulate. The bird 

 was all alone, and rather early in his arrival. He is of the 

 species usually found in these waters during winter, with a 

 short recurved crest ; but by what term is this species known to 

 science? P. onocrotalus, L., is given from India and Japan; 

 and from the former place a smaller species is noted by Blyth 

 as the P. philippensis (Gmel.), P. roseus (Gmel.), P. manillensis 

 (Gmel.), P. javanicus (Horsf.). The smaller species Blyth sub- 

 sequently identified with P. crispus (Bruch), which name is, I 

 presume, of later date, and will have to sink into a synonym*. 

 I took home with me no entire skin of this Pelican, and am 

 therefore unable to speak with certainty whether ours is referable 

 to the same species ; but I should surmise that there are strong 

 grounds for this conclusion. 



Pelecanus philippensis (Gmel.). Total length, from tip of bill 

 to end of tail, 4 feet ; expanse 6 feet 9 inches. Wing, from carpal 

 curve, 32^ inches ; bill, along culmen, 13^ ; lower mandible 14^. 

 Bill and gular pouch yellowish flesh-colour ; irides ochreous ; 

 legs brown ; general plumage cream-colour. Head and neck 

 covered with small downy feathers of a light pearl-grey. Occi- 

 pital crest-feathers about 1^ inch long, soft and acuminate, 

 recurved. The plumage washed with a roseate hue, much deeper 

 on the back. Many of the scapulars, upper tail-coverts, and 

 wing-coverts brown on their stems. Primaries, winglet, and 

 secondaries hair-brown, deepest on the two first ; the last, for the 



* We doubt whether this will be the case, the true P. crispus being one 

 of the largest species. — Ed. 



