136 WILD LIFK IN CHINA. 



"pelican in the wilderness'; had doubtless seen the sportsmen 

 long before they saw him. it may well be imagined that he 

 was enjoying the event as much as they. He waited and 

 watched as long as he felt it wise, and then went up in 

 clumsy majesty and sailed away. We have in this neighbour- 

 hood nothing like the numbers of pelicans reported from 

 some of the southern parts of Europe, the coasts of the Black 

 Sea, and so on. Neither are there as many as may be found 

 in favoured districts farther south. But taking China as a 

 whole, she has her fair share of the pelican hordes as she 

 has of others. In the winter of 1891-2 a member of the 

 Customs' staff stationed at Swatow, Mr. P. E. Milhe, was 

 out shooting one day, when, from behind some cover, he 

 surprised no fewer than five pelicans within a distance of 50 

 yards. He was on the look-out for geese, and so was prepared 

 with somewhat heavy shot. Firing at the leading bird he 

 was surprised to see no fewer than three of the five drop 

 to his first barrel. The best of these he presented to the 

 Shanghai Museum. It measured eight feet from tip of beak 

 to tip of tail: it had a stretch of wing of eleven feet: its beak 

 was twenty-two inches long, and its total weight thirty-two 

 pounds! Something like a bird! 



