196 



says that Pelecanus minor, from Egypt, cannot be separated from the Eoseate Pelican, and gives 

 the measurements of several specimens in confirmation of his opinion. On the other hand, he 

 separates Pelecanus mitratus as a specifically different South-African form, stating that he has 

 examined the type in the Berlin Museum, from South Africa, and adds that it " has a com- 

 paratively broader bill, the base of the upper mandible being more even, and there is a distinct, 

 sharply defined furrow along the edge of the culmen-plate." Unfortunately I have not been 

 able to collect a series of specimens for examination, so as to be able to decide for myself; but 

 it appears to me, judging by a careful perusal of what both these gentlemen say, that Von 

 Heuglin's view is the correct one ; and I have therefore followed him in treating the South- 

 African fonn as distinct, and have united Pelecanus minor with Pelecanus onocrotalus. 



I have not been able to compare a series of specimens of the Roseate or White Pelican 

 from Asia with our European Pelecanus onocrotalus ; but Dr. Sclater (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 266) says 

 that there can be no doubt that the Indian bird is referable to Pelecanus mitratus, and is 

 separable from our European bird. This bird is found in India, China, and Japan. 



How far east the true Pelecanus onocrotalus ranges I cannot say, but probably as far as 

 the Caspian. 



Mr. A. O. Hume has described (Stray Feathers, v. p. 491), under the name of Pelecanus 

 longirostris, a Pelican from Dacca, which, he says, is " like Pelecanus onocrotalus, but with a 

 longer and narrower bill, and with the rib of the upper mandible much more raised." I can 

 venture no opinion as to the validity of this species, as I have not had a specimen for comparison. 

 The measurements given are — -length 4 feet 6 inches, tail 8 - 0, wing 27'0, bill at front from the 

 margin of the feathers to the end of the nail 18T. 



In general habits the present species does not appear to differ from the Dalmatian Pelican, 

 with which species it is so often found consorting. 



The brothers Sintenis have published some excellent notes on an expedition they made to a 

 breeding-place of the Roseate Pelican in the delta of the Danube, which has been translated in 

 the 'Zoologist' (1879, pp. 243-260) in extenso. These gentlemen found both Pelecanus crispus 

 and Pelecanus onocrotalus breeding in the same marshes, but keeping apart in separate nesting 

 colonies, though evidently differing but little, if at all, in breeding-habits. Speaking of a nesting 

 colony of the latter species, they say (p. 257) : — " The largest islands may have been occupied 

 by twenty or thirty breeding birds ; but quite small ones, sufficing only for one bird each, were 

 quite as numerous. Now these islands are more or less composed of reed-fragments, often 

 without any fresh vegetation, often also bordered by green rushes and other high plants. The 

 aspect of the large white eggs shining through the green all round is very charming when seen 

 from the middle of the lake. But when closely inspected the places look very dirty and 

 slovenly. The smell was bearable, the process of fermentation and putrefaction being generally 

 over — a sign that the birds had not laid since the 7th instant. Generally there were two eggs 

 in a nest ; but there were also plenty of single ones. Nearly half as many eggs as were lying on 

 the islands were floating on the surrounding water. The latter keeps sending up air-bubbles, 

 by which it is kept in constant commotion, no doubt caused by the substances putrefying at the 

 bottom. The eggs were in all stages of hatching ; but in most of them the young birds were 

 fully developed, so that we had some trouble to find a number which could yet be blown. The 



