SIX MONTHS’ BIRD COLLECTING IN EGYPT. 237 
212. WHITE PELICAN, Pelicanus onocrotalus, Linn. ; 
(Hasselquist, pp. 85, 208, 210); “ Bagah.” 
The Pelicans’ which we saw on lake Menzaleh were pre- 
sumedly of this species. There is a neck of land called 
Sayal, an hour and a quarter’s walk from Damietta, over 
which Pelicans not infrequently pass, and in tempestuous 
weather they may be got by lying up, but their feathers are 
such a tough armour that many are hit for one that is killed. 
At this place they flew very low, but we did see some flocks 
at a far greater height, and one bird afterwards circling 
right over the town of Damietta. I do not remember see- 
ing any Pelicans from the time we left Damietta until the 
11th of March, when six rosy ones were descried on a sand- 
bank near Girgeh. I do not know how long it takes for a 
Pelican to arrive at maturity, though it might easily be 
ascertained from the numerous specimens kept in confine- 
ment, but certainly in the same flock you may see some far 
larger than others, and much rosier. The roseate colouring 
of the adult Pelicans is probably more intense during the 
breeding season. We were too late to see many on the Nile; 
occasionally we met with a single one or a pair migrating 
north, and once, on the 16th of May, I counted about fifty- 
seven high up and going in the same direction, but we 
never had the good fortune to come across such an immense 
flock as Captain Shelley tells of, although we were near the 
same place at about the same period of the year. On 
enquiry we were told that we had come much too late for 
Pelicans, and that they were only common in the winter. 
This I dare say was true, as I know that other boats had 
obtained them; possibly they go to the large lakes in the 
Delta in April to breed. Hasselquist says that some re- 
main at Damietta and on the islands of the Delta in 
summer. 
- As it was we were content to get one specimen—a fine 
