THE CRESTED PELICAN. 



273 



large tuft or crest, hence the name it bears. Its European habitat is 

 principally the marshes round the Black Sea, and the isles adjacent to 

 the mouth of the Danube. 



Of their modes of life travellers in those regions give very inte- 

 resting descriptions. Count Miikle states that they are plentiful on 

 the lakes of Missolonghi and in the marshy grounds near Thermo- 

 pylae. In situations difficult of access, such as floating islands 



100. — The Crested Pelican. 



scarcely over the water-line, they place their nests, supported by the 

 reeds and rushes. The vicinity of these breeding-places are rendered 

 indescribably offensive by decomposed fish dropped about, and the 

 aisagreeable white dung with which all the neighbourhood is covered. 

 "Time was," says Mr. W. H. Simpson, "and that not so long 

 ago, when Pelicanus crispus* lived in hundreds all the year round, 

 from the rocky promontory of Kourtzalari, hard by the mouth of the 

 Achelous, on the western extremity of the lagoon, near the island 

 of iEtolico, up the northern arm, and on the east along the great 



* Bonaparte's synonym for this species. 



