THE OAR-FOOTED SEA-FLIERS. 



239 



THE GREAT TUFTED OR DALMATIAN PELICAN. 



The Great Tufted or Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is white, slightly tinged with 

 greyish red, except upon the quills, which are black. In this species, the head-feathers are long and 

 curly, forming a sort of helmet. The eye is silvery white, beak greyish yellow, bag beneath the 

 throat blood-red veined with blue, and the foot black. The plumage of the young is greyish. The 

 length of this bird is sixty-six inches, breadth one hundred and fourteen inches, the length of wing 

 thirty inches, and tail eight inches. The habitat of the Great Tufted Pelican extends from the Black 

 Sea over all the well-watered districts of Central and Southern Asia ; a few penetrate annually into 

 South China and North Africa, but in both these regions they are comparatively of rare occurrence. 



The first example known of this bird was shot in 1S28 in Dalmatiaby Baron Fildegg, and it has 

 been since found by Riippell and Kittlitz in Abyssinia. 



" It arrives," says the baron, "in spring and autumn, giving preference to the neighbourhood of 

 Fort Opus, on the river Naronta, which is bordered with morasses. It comes through Bosnia, 

 seldom alone, but generally in flocks. I have seen as many as twelve together hunting for fish. It 

 is very cunning, and is extremely difficult to shoot." 



No particulars are known respecting its habits, nidification, &c, which are supposed to resemble 

 others of its family. 



