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the steppe Calmucks they often requested me to shoot Pelicans for them, which they devoured 

 with avidity, in spite of their repulsive flesh ; indeed there is nothing that these men cannot 

 swallow." 



Mr. W. H. Hudlestone, who visited the breeding-places of this Pelican in Western Greece, 

 says (Ibis, 1860, p. 395): — "Time was, and not so long ago, when Pelecanus crispus lived in 

 hundreds all the year round, from the rocky promontory of Kourtzolari, hard by the mouth of 

 the Acheloiis, on the western extremity of the lagoon, to the islands of iEtolico, up its northern 

 arms, and, on the east, to the great mud-flats which mark the limits of the present delta of the 

 Phidaris. Now-a-days a solitary individual may be seen fishing here and there throughout the 

 lagoon ; but the small remnant of this once mighty host have made their last stand upon the 

 islands which divide the Gulf of Procopanisto from the Gulf of iEtolico. Here, towards the end 

 of February last, the community of Pelicans constructed a group of seven nests — a sad falling off 

 from the year 1858, when thirty-five nests, the remains of which had not then disappeared, were 

 grouped in contiguous proximity upon a neighbouring islet. It needs not the nose of a pointer 

 to discover the locality, even if the large white birds themselves were not a sufficient guide. As 

 we approached the spot in a boat the Pelicans left their nests, and, taking to the water, sailed 

 away like a fleet of stately ships, leaving their newly built establishment in possession of the 

 invader. The boat grounded in two or three feet of mud ; and when the party had floundered 

 through this, the seven nests were discovered to be empty. A fisherman had plundered them 

 that morning, taking from each nest one egg, all of which we of course recovered. The nests 

 were constructed in a great measure of the old reed palings used by the natives for enclosing the 

 fish, though with these were mixed such pieces of the vegetation of the islet as were suitable for 

 the purpose. The seven nests were contiguous, and disposed in the shape of an irregular cross, — 

 the navel of the cross, which was the tallest nest, being about 30 inches high, the two next in 

 line on each side being about 2 feet high, the two nests forming each arm of the cross a few 

 inches lower, and the two extremes at either end being about 14 inches from the ground. 

 These latter, it is presumed, were intended for the junior partners of the firm, in the same way 

 that the great bear of nursery tales has a big seat, his wife a middling seat, and the little bear a 

 small seat. The eggs are chalky, like those of the Pelecanidee generally, very rough in texture, 

 and some of them much streaked with blood." Messrs. Elwes and Buckley also write (Ibis, 

 1870, p. 335) as follows: — This Pelican is " common in Macedonia, where we saw it in the Gulf 

 of Salonica and about the mouth of the Vardar. We were told that Pelicans bred in the great 

 marsh of Janitza, which is quite impenetrable, except in one or two narrow channels. On the 

 11th of April we visited a lagoon which runs back from the Danube three miles above Rassova, 

 whither a great number of Pelicans resort to breed. We had much trouble in getting a boat, as 

 the Circassians who lived there would not allow us to go in theirs ; but at last we brought a 

 dug-out canoe in a cart from Rassova, and launched her on the lake, which was surrounded by a 

 deep bed of tall reeds. We paddled up to the top of it, disturbing numbers of Geese, Grebes, 

 and Ducks, and came at last to the breeding-place of the Pelicans. The nest consists of a 

 shallow depression in a large strong platform formed by reeds broken down and heaped together 

 in the water ; and on this great heap of decaying matter the eggs were laid. Many of the nests 

 contained two or three ; but all of them were quite fresh, and in some instances covered with 



