PELECANIDAE 



83 



very slight, and almost invariably contains one egg, resemblino- 

 that of the Cormorant. The young are fed by regurgitation, and 

 both sexes are said to incubate, sitting very closely, and merely 

 snapping at an intruder. The feathers are used for head-dresses 

 in the Pacific Islands. 



Fam. V. Pelecanidae. — Pelecanus onocrotalus, the Pelican, of 

 South-East Europe, North-East and South-West Africa, reported 

 also from France, Germany, and Denmark, is white with a rosy 

 or salmon tinge, the primaries being black, and the moderate 

 occipital crest and stiff elongated feathers of the lower fore-neck 

 washed with yellow. The lores and orbits are naked, while an 

 enormous dilatable semi-transparent pouch lills the space between 

 the branches of the lower jaw. According to Mr. Dresser,^ these 

 parts and a fleshy knob appearing on the forehead in spring are 

 yellow, the bill is bluish-grey with pink sides marked with red, 

 and the feet are also pink. These colours, however, may vary 

 with the season. In this species, and to a certain extent in 

 P. erythrorhyTicTiics, the feathering on the forehead ends in a point, 

 but elsewhere is more or less concave anteriorly. Closely allied 

 forms of doubtful validity are P. minor, with a somewhat similar 

 range, P. sharpii of West Africa, and P. mitratvs of South Africa. 

 P. crispus, occupying a slightly more eastern area than P. onocro- 

 talus, is disting'uished from it by the curled filamentous plumes 

 which overhang the sides of the head, the lack of rosy tints, and 

 the flesh-coloured orbits. P. erythrorhynchus of temperate North 

 America, found in winter down to Guatemala, resembles the last- 

 named, but has a still more pendent nuptial crest, and in the 

 breeding season develops a curious triangular horny excrescence on 

 the middle of the culmen, shed about May. The chest and wing- 

 coverts shew a little yellow, the bill and naked parts are reddish, 

 the feet orange-red, while the lower jaw is densely feathered. 

 P. rufescens of the Ethiopian Eegion, apparently identical with 

 P. philippensis of South Asia, is white, with black primaries, and 

 a grey shade on the secondaries, tail, crested head, or even lower 

 surface; the back is rose-coloured; the stiff feathers on the fore-neck, 

 the bill and pouch, are yellowish, with vertical red lines on the 

 latter. The remainder of the bare skin is flesh-coloured, and the 

 feet are pink. P.fuscus of the warmer coasts of North America, the 

 range of which south of Panama is uncertain, and depends upon the 



1 £irds of Europe, vi. 1879, pp. 193, 194. 



