PELECANTJS PHILIPPINENSIS. 1201 



birds " all lined the overladen branches by their nests, or stood like sentinels on the tops of the more distant 

 forest-trees ; lastly about a score of huge Pelicans stood on the large platforms of sticks which contained 

 their offspring, and busied themselves preening off the night-dew from their broad backs. But already the 

 numerous assembly had begun to bestir itself, mindful of the labour which those hundreds of hungry mouths 

 entailed during the coming day. Spoonbills and Ibises filed off to distant marshes, Egrets flapped away 

 over the surrounding forest, Cormorants streamed off in rows towards the great tank of Tissa Maha Rama, 

 and several Darters or Snake-birds dashed round and round the tank as if they were training for a race. 



It was a sight to have gazed on for hours ; but as the sun was fast mounting into the sky and I had 



come for eggs and specimens, I was obliged to commence work after jotting down in my notebook the different 



species at their nests so as to identify the eggs. The first shot brought down a splendid Grey Heron which 



was sailing over my head ; and then the scene was instantly transformed, the air swarmed with the assembled 



multitudes, and the lonely jungle resounded with bird-cries; the Pelicans launched themselves from their 



nests and, joined in hopeless confusion by Herons, Egrets, Ibises, and Darters, mounted high in the air and 



soared round and round above their young ; but many of each species, more bold than their fellows, dashed 



about over their nests and furnished me with a few specimens, but only as many as I could carry away, for I 



never shot a bird I did not want during eight years' hard work collecting in Ceylon. The Shell-eaters, which 



were the most numerous of all, swooped down on me from vast altitudes as I floundered through the muddy 



water, regardless of the crocodiles, making a booming sound, and almost touching their nests mounted high 



again with the impetus gained by their descent. It was no easy matter to ascend the thorny trees slimy and 



whitened with guana and pervaded with an awful stench. The Pelicans' nests, with which we have now onlv 



to do, were very large platforms of moderately sized sticks, the entire structure measuring at least 3 feet across ; 



they were placed on the tops of the largest trees and mostly rested in the forks of crooked and distorted 



thorn-branches ; the top or upper surface was quite flat and lined with good-sized twigs. The companions of 



the Pelicans were Glossy, Shell-, and Pelican-Ibises and the Little Egret (Herodias garzetta) . Most of the nests 



had two or three young ones ; but in one or two there were eggs, three being the number of the clutch. They 



are almost perfect ovals, moderately smooth but chalky in texture, and much smeared with blood and dirt, 



quite obscuring the original uniform white colour. They varied from 3'0 to 3'2 inches in length by 2"1 to 2"2 



in breadth. When I ascended to the nests with young they stood up and stared stupidly at me, but showed 



no disposition to resist. When seized by the neck they darted out their heads and flapped their wings. 



The Pelicanry at Uduwila, which was bodily removed by the birds after my visit, was of course a very 

 small one, these birds being less in number than any other species. Some of those mentioned above are, I 

 understand, tenanted by many hundreds of Pelicans ; but even these must be small compared with the vast 

 colony discovered, in November 1877, by Mr. Eugene Oates in the forest near Shwaygheen, and which covers 

 the Pegu plain on the west side of the Sittang river. This vast tract is inundated for five months in the year, 

 forming an immense forest-swamp, just the place of all others to attract Pelicans, and concerning which 

 I transcribe the following passage from Mr. Oates's interesting account : — - 



"The whole stream from the Sittang to Kadat runs through beautiful forest with spare undergrowth, 

 and in many places the stream narrowed so much that we had carefully to pick a way for the boat between 

 the trees. Immense flocks of Pelicans and Adjutants were flying in circles over our heads the whole day. 

 Monkeys were very common, and I saw more specimens of Polioaetus ichthyaetus during this trip than I did 

 during the whole of my residence in Burmah. 



" We arrived too late in the day to do any thing, but in the afternoon, strolling out, we saw a good 

 many Adjutants' nests; but it was not easy to climb the trees. 



"On the morning of the 11th I started early with several Burmans into the forest. The floods had 

 gone down, but the ground was very muddy, and in many places for long distances the water came up to my 

 knees. Every quarter of a mile there was depression or nullah to be crossed, and I soon gave up any idea I 

 might have had of keeping myself dry. Walking was very laborious, for though there was no undergrowth 

 of jungle to speak of, yet roots of trees embedded in mud and water caused me frequently to trip up. 



" The whole forest consisted of very large trees, but a portion (about one in twenty) was made up of 

 wood-oil trees, gigantic fellows 150 feet high and more, and with a smooth branchless trunk of 80 to 100 feet 

 high. These are the trees selected by the Pelicans. I was out that day till 3 p.m. continually moving, and 



