6o 
THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
The Pelican Tribe 
thoto by the Duchess of Bedford'^ {^li''ohurn Abbey 
CRESTED PELICAN 
This bird deri-ves its name from the curiously curled feathers on the top of the head and 
nape of the neck 
The members of the Pelican 
Tribe may be readily distinguished 
from other living birds by the 
fact that all their toes are united 
in a common fold of skin or web. 
In the Ducks and other web-footed 
birds only the front toes are so 
united. 
The Pelican Tribe embraces 
several apparently dissimilar forms, 
whose only claim to be grouped 
together, judged from a superficial 
point of view, lies in the fact that 
they possess the peculiar type of 
foot above mentioned. With the 
general appearance of the Pelican 
itselfprobably every one is familiar, 
but we had better mention here 
that the other representatives of 
the group with which we have 
now to deal are the Cormorants 
and Gannets, common on the 
British coasts, and the less-known 
Darters, Trigate-birds, and Tropic- 
birds ; these, as we know from 
their anatomy, are all closely allied forms, and with the Pelicans make up a somewhat isolated 
group whose nearest allies appear to be the members of the Stork Tribe. 
The Pelic.W figures largely in ecclesiastical heraldry as the type of maternal tenderness. 
Tradition has it that the bird, in admonishing its young, occasionally did so with such 
violence as to slay them. Remorse immediately following, the distracted parent drew blood 
from its own breast, and therewith sprinkled the victims of its wrath, which thereupon became 
restored to life again. The exhaustion following on this loss of blood was so great that the 
young had perforce to leave the nest to procure food for themselves and the sinking parent. 
If any, through lack of filial affection, refused to aid in this good work, the mother, on 
recovering strength, drove them from her presence, but the faithful children she permitted to 
follow her wherever she went. 
One of the most remarkable features of the pelican is the pouch which hangs suspended 
from the under side of the beak. This is capable of great distension, and is used, when fishing, 
as a sort of bag-net, of which the upper jaw serves as the lid. The young are fed by the 
female, which, pressing her well-filled pouch against her breast, opens her mouth and allows 
them to take their fill therefrom. 
Pelicans display great sagacity when fishing, a flock often combining to form a horse- 
shoe, and, driving the fish into a mass, take their fill. This method, of course, is only possible 
when fishing in the estuaries of rivers or lakes, where the fish can be “ rounded up,” so to 
speak. Clumsy as the pelican looks, it is yet capable of wonderful powers of flight; indeed, 
it shares the honour with the vultures, storks, and adjutants as an expert in the peculiar 
form of flight known as “ soaring.” 
A North American species of pelican is remarkable in that during the breeding-season 
the beak is ornamented with a peculiar horny excrescence, which is shed as soon as that 
period is ov^er. 
