PELECANIDAE 



>S 



heavy, and of enormous size, they fly buoyantly and swiftly, with 

 the neck drawn in upon the shoulders and the feet extended 

 behind ; while at times they soar in spiral fashion to great 

 altitudes, and circle around with alternate flapping and sailing 

 movements. On land the gait is awkward and waddling, and 

 great difficulty is experienced in rising ; but some species habitu- 

 ally perch, and all are very proficient in the water, swimming, 

 diving, or plunging from great heights, according to their various 

 customs. The food consists almost entirely of moderate-sized 

 fish taken by the bird either by pouncing down sharply from 

 above, or, when quiescent on the surface, by immersing the head 

 or disappearing totally from sight with a somersault. The prey 

 is chiefly sought in shallows, and is retained in the pouch 

 until the birds return to land, or until it is transferred half- 

 macerated to the young ; occasionally the adults may be seen 

 gorged after feeding, sitting upon the water or basking in the 

 rays of the sun. The deep loud note is very seldom heard. 

 Pelicans usually breed in colonies in wild districts, though 

 occasionally near villages,'' the nest, when on the branches of 

 trees, being of sticks with a lining of twigs or roots, as in P. 

 pMUppensis ; at other times it is a rough mound of gravel 

 and rubbish on the ground with a slight cavity above, as is often 

 the case in the American species, which also lay in mere depres- 

 sions in the sand, the localities chosen being generally islands in 

 lakes or rivers ; the European forms amass a pile of reeds and 

 grasses among aquatic herbage in like places or swamps, while the 

 Australian constructs a large fabric of sticks and water-plants 

 in similar spots or on the summits of rocky islets. The eggs, 

 varying from one to five, but ordinarily two or three in number, 

 are white or bluish - white with a chalky incrustation, soon 

 becoming soiled and often stained with blood. The parents are 

 as a rule shy and easily scared from the nest, where the smell 

 from the refuse fish and excrement is in many cases intolerable. 

 Incubation lasts about four weeks. Bands of these birds some- 

 times unite to systematically beat the water for their prey, stowing 

 it in the distensible pouch. In India they are used — frequently 

 with the eyes sewn up — to decoy fish by their oily secretions,^ 

 and in various countries they are slaughtered for the sake of 

 the latter. The fable of the young being fed with blood from the 



1 Jerdon, Birds of India, ii. Calcutta, 1877, p. 860. '■' Ibid. 



