200 



Danford and Harvie-Brown remark (Ibis, 1875, p. 430) that it is very rare in Transylvania; a 

 male was killed at Batiz, on the Strell, in 1850, by Herr Stetter. It is common, however, on 

 the Lower Danube, and breeds numerously in the delta of the river. In Southern Russia this 

 Pelican is tolerably widely distributed, wintering on the southern shores of the Black Sea, and 

 passing northwards in large flocks in the early spring, nesting also along the shores of the Sea 

 of Azoff. In the breeding-season it ranges tolerably far north in Russia. It is said to have been 

 met with near Jaroslaf in 1865 ; and Bogdanoff states that it nests as far up as the Samarskaya 

 Lukar, occasionally occurs in the Spask and Christopol districts in the Kazan Government, 

 and migrates along the Kama as far as Meselinsk. One was killed some years ago in the ltkul 

 lake, in the Kaslinsky Ural; in 1856 one was obtained near Ekaterinburg; and again in 1860 

 several were seen there, and in 1867 several near Tagila. According to Artzibascheff it is very 

 common on the Sarpa and all along the Volga from Tzaritzine to the Caspian. In Asia Minor 

 and Greece it is tolerably common; Dr. Kriiper says (J. f. O. 1875, p. 284) that "single indi- 

 viduals were observed near Smyrna, but it does not seem to breed there. In Greece it is found 

 breeding on the lagoons near Missolonghi and the islands at the mouth of the Aspropotamus. 

 The nests, 1-2J feet high, are built close together on the banks of the islands, and constructed 

 of pieces of reeds and rushes. The breeding-time begins as early as February." Canon Tristram 

 possesses a specimen from Cyprus ; and he met with it in Palestine, where he saw an immense 

 flock within sight of Mount Carmel. In North-east Africa this Pelican is numerous, more so 

 probably than the Roseate Pelican. Captain Shelley (B. of Egypt, p. 293) speaks of it as being 

 " abundant throughout Egypt and Nubia, frequenting the sandbanks in the river, often in large 

 flocks. It appears to be more plentiful than the other species of Pelican, and was the only one 

 I met with in the Fayoom, where I frequently killed specimens." Von Heuglin says that it 

 visits the Fayoom in huge flocks in the winter, and winters between Alexandria and Port Said, 

 but he never saw it in Nubia. It does not appear to range below Northern Africa, and, according 

 to Loche, is of very rare and accidental occurrence in Algeria. 



In Asia it ranges tolerably far east. According to Mr. Blanford (Eastern Persia, ii. p. 299) 

 this Pelican is " abundant on the coast of Baluchistan, keeping to the bays and inlets. The 

 specimen obtained, for which I am indebted to one of the officers belonging to the telegraph, is 

 a fine female. This species is found also on the Caspian ; and De Filippi gives it, doubtfully, 

 from Lake Gokscha. I saw a few Pelicans, at a distance, on the Lakes of Niriz and Shiraz, but 

 of course could not determine the species." 



Mr. Hume writes (Stray Feathers, i. p. 288): — "I have already noticed how wonderfully 

 abundant this species is in Sindh and along the whole Mekran coast. This is the Pelican that 

 the fishermen on all the inland waters keep tame. As with the Herons, so with the Pelicans, 

 they generally sew up the eyes, and fasten them by a string tied to the leg to the roots of some 

 bunch of rushes or a stake driven in below water-level. They thus serve as decoys to other 

 water-fowl, who, knowing how wary Pelicans usually are, readily settle where they see one or 

 more of these birds sailing slowly about backwards and forwards, and are thus netted or captured 

 in other ways. These Pelicans serve the fishermen, who are fowlers also, in another way : they 

 skin them carefully, and cutting away the abdomen, in fact the greater portion that would be 

 below water-level in the live bird, line the skin with a frame of thin basketwork. They are 



