Molina s Pelican (Pelecanus tliagus). 413 



No. 520. ^ . 



Irides pale straw colour, otherwise the same as 519, except 

 that the anterior portion o£ beak (not including the culmen) 

 is pale green. 



Canevaro Peninsula, Lobos de Tierra I., 2. 3. 13. 



Molina, " one of the most pernicious blunderers who have 

 brought confusion into natural history," as he has been 

 described by a distinguished English botanist, was the first 

 to introduce this Pelican to science as a new species in 

 1786*, and he certainly made no pernicious blunder in his 

 determination. Pelecatncs thayus is an excellent species. 

 The bird was for centuries prior to that date familiar to, 

 and held in respect by, the Incas. On many of their ancient 

 textiles it is represented devouring a fish, and Sir Clements 

 Markham refers to Mr. Spences description of " a series of 

 plates, almost like a lady's muslin collar in size and shape, 

 covered with figures. On one of these there were nearly a 

 hundred figures of pelicans. Every figure represents the 

 bird in a different attitude, and as they have been stamped, 

 not engraved, a separate die must have been used for each 

 figure.'''' 



Pelecanus thayus is met with along the whole coast of 

 Peru at all periods of the year. It occurs also at certain 

 seasons in the Guayaquil River, in Ecuador, where, I am 

 informed, it may be seen roosting on the trees of that richly 

 foiested region, and as far south as Lota, in Chile, in 

 37° S. lat. So far as I was able to ascertain, however, it 

 does not migrate, nor does it breed in either the northern or 

 the southern extremes of its range. Fortunately for the 

 Republic of Peru, it prefers to nest in the desert and arid 

 islands owned by it, and but very occasionally on the sandy 

 coast pampas of the mainland far from human habitations. 



In January 1912, when I first visited the Chincha group 

 of islands, lying between 13^ and 14° S. latitude, I was 

 witness to a very remarkable episode in the history of this 

 (and some other) species of guano birds. I found there the 



* Molina, Hist. Nat. Chili, 1786, p. 212. 

 SER. X. VOL. 11. 2 f 



