PLOTUS MELANOGASTEE. 1197 



year the Government Agent of the district, Mr. Thomas Steele, C.C.S., kindly sent a man to the same spot to 

 procure eggs for me. He found the entire colony of nests built by the Herons, Ibises, Pelicans, &c. removed, 

 the tank being tenanted solely by a few Darters, who were breeding. In February 1875, at a colony of Egrets, 

 Herons, and Cormorants in the north, I discovered about a dozen pairs of Darters breeding. Their nests, as 

 at Uduwila, were apart from the rest, being placed in trees which grew in the most inaccessible part of the 

 tank. They were built on the tops of the trees, and were rather scanty platforms of small sticks lined with roots. 

 In size the nests were not much larger than those of the Small Cormorant, and not more than three were in the 

 same tree. The females sat closely, with the head drawn in, and did not leave their nests till I had waded close 

 up to the trees ; they then flew to the tops of adjacent trees, and returned as soon as I quitted the spot. I 

 observed that, when perched, they frequently scratched their heads, lowering them to a horizontal position, and 

 sometimes below the level of the body ; the claws were applied and rapidly moved, as in the case of an ordinary 

 perching-bird. The number of eggs was usually three in a nest; but in some there were four. They are 

 normally elongated ovals, slightly smaller at one end than the other ; but they vary in shape, some being much 

 broader than others. The external texture is rough and chalky ; but beneath this exterior, which is dull 

 white, and which is easily removed and is often partially worn off by the bird's feet, is a smooth light green 

 shell. They vary from 2"0 to 2'15 inches in length, and from T2 to T38 in breadth. 



Mr. Hume's measurements of the eggs are — length l - 95 to 2 - 29 inches, breadth 1*28 to P46. In India, 

 where the bird is, in some localities, very abundant, it breeds in large colonies. Mr. Oates speaks of one in 

 which there were about two hundred nests. 



Genus PELECANUS. 



Bill immensely long, flattened, the tip furnished with a powerful nail ; culmen flat, bounded 

 on each side by a narrow groove, at the base of which the minute nostrils are situated; under 

 mandible divided by a membrane or pouch, which extends to the tip, the base much broader 

 than that of the upper, which is compressed beneath the nostrils. Wings ample and very long, 

 the ulna being much lengthened ; 3rd and 4th quills the longest ; tertials exceeding the primaries. 

 Tail of 16 feathers, rounded at the tip. Tarsus short, much compressed, reticulate in front ; tibia 

 almost completely feathered. Toes long, the outer slightly less than the inner ; all four joined by 

 a full web. 



Of large size. Sternum with only a slight emargination in the posterior edge, the furcula 

 completely joined to the keel. 



7o2 



