THE SPOTTED-BILLED PELICAN. 
237 
dark brown ; secondaries and tertiaries brown^ tinged with ashy on the 
outer webs ; the whole back white ; rump, upper tail-coverts and flanks 
white^ with delicate brown shaft-streaks ; tail dark brown_, with the base 
white ; lower plumage whity brown^ each feather being white with the 
tip brownish ; the feathers close, dense and soft. 
In June of the third year, or when the bird is about thirty months 
old, the moult into adult breeding-plumage is commenced and the change 
is entirely efiPected by October, except that in this first breeding-season 
the wing-coverts never become entirely white as in the old bird, the 
feathers of these parts being a mixture of long sharp-pointed white feathers 
and brown, comparatively blunt, brown ones. Between June and October 
the pouch, which has hitherto been spotless, becomes blotched with livid 
as in the adult, the blotches extending to the face ; the legs turn to dark 
brown ; the iris becomes paler brown ; and the spots on the bill become firm 
and well defined. 
Adult in breeding -plumage (September to February). — Forehead, top 
of head, crest and cheeks pure white, the bases of the feathers black, but 
barely visible ; the hind neck, from the crest to the upper back, covered 
by rather long, soft, greyish-brown feathers forming a mane ; remainder 
of head and neck white, the feathers with black bases, showing out slightly ; 
all the feathers curly, dense and very soft ; crest sharply pointed, 
erect or falling forwards ; upper back and shoulders white, the feathers 
sharply pointed ; lower back, upper part of rump, and flanks rich vina- 
ceous, the shafts hair-brown ; lower part of rump pure white, the feathers 
falling over the upper tail-coverts, which are also pure white but with 
very conspicuous black shafts ; tail ashy, with dark-brown shafts ; upper 
scapulars narrow and finely pointed, white with black shafts ; lower sca- 
pulars broad and rounded, ashy with black shafts ; tertiaries more or 
less white on inner webs and more or less ashy on the outer webs ; secon- 
daries brown, tinged with ashy on the outer webs ; primaries very dark 
uniform brown ; winglet and primary -co verts dark brown : coverts over 
secondaries — lesser coverts very finely pointed and narrow, white tinged 
with yellow ; median coverts also sharply pointed, white with black shafts ; 
greater coverts rounded, brown on terminal half of outer and terminal 
third of inner webs, bases white ; the median coverts as long as, or longer 
than, greater coverts and partially concealing them : coverts over ter- 
tiaries — lesser white ; median vinaceous ; greater pale ashy : under 
coverts of tertiaries totally vinaceous ; those of the primaries and secon- 
daries white, splashed in places with vinaceous ; lower neck in front, 
breast and sides of body white tinged with yellow, all the feathers rather 
rigid and very sharp -pointed ; abdomen from breast to vent white, the 
feathers soft and rounded ; feathers below vent sharp-pointed, vinaceous ; 
under tail-coverts ample, soft, vinaceous with dark shafts. 
