PELICANUS CONSPIOILLATUS. 



(Australian Pelican.) 



Adult. — Head, neck, and all the upper and under surface, white, except a line along the shoulder, lowest row of wing coverts, primaries, 

 secondaries, several of the upper tail coverts, and tail, which are black; bill and pouch, flesh color, the former tipped with light yellow; orbits, 

 light yellow, surrounded by a ring of light blue ; irides, dark brown ; feet, pale bluish grey. 



TorNG-, — Eorehead, throat, under side of neck, all the under surface of shoulders, and upper portion of back, pure white ; 

 crown, occiput, and back of the neck, light grey ; rump, white in the centre, with two rows of dark feathers at the sides ; the remainder of 

 the coloring as in the adult, but brown instead of black. 



Expanse, 8 feet ; length, 5 feet 3 inches ; wing, 22 inches ; tail 6 ; bill, 16^ ; tarsus, 4 ; mid-toe and claw, 5. 



Every portion of Australia and Tasmania is frequented by this species of Pelican. It is most generally found in creeks and 

 inlets of the sea, but is also not infrequently met with in the lakes, lagoons, and rivers of the interior. It sometimes occurs in numerous 

 flocks in situations where food is abundant, as in the larger streams, and resorts to quiet, solitary, land-locked estuaries for the purpose of 

 breeding. The eggs are sometimes deposited in a nest formed of sticks and grassy herbage, placed just above high water mark, or (as in 

 Cook's Island, a rocky islet south of the Tweed) in hollows of the bare rock. They are two in number : color, impure white : size, 3| inches 

 long by 2f broad. The food of the Pelican consists of fish of various kinds. It is very voracious. Its flight is well sustained and powerful, 

 considering the weight of so large a bird. The flesh is fishy, coarse, and scarcely eatable. 



