STEGANOPOD CHARACTERS 
tree upon which the bird is perching. One cannot but 
think with Dr. Gadow, that the undoubted inheritance 
of these characters is in favour of the transmission of 
acquired characters, that bone of contention among 
zoologists. It is as well to be particular even in de- 
scribing a disagreeable odour. But statements by 
actual observers differ greatly as to the substance most 
generally known with which this odour is best to be 
compared. Mr. Quelch says: “Musk combined with 
wet hides.” M. Deville said: ‘A cow-house.” We 
incline to the cow-house view. 
THE PELICAN 
Pelicans are among the birds which do best in cap- 
tivity, at any rate in captivity at the Zoo. This is 
shown: by their extreme longevity in that institution. 
One individual, hoary with age, died only a year or two 
ago, having been inspected by the public since the year 
1868. We do not know, of course, that this is not ex- 
ceptional in another way ; the pelican may have been 
cut off in the flower of its youth! The pelican is 
distinctly not of the wilderness, but of water courses, 
where it canswim and fish. No one can easily confuse 
a pelican with any other bird. Its large size, unwieldy 
proportions, and huge beak with dependent baglike 
throat for the storage of fish, betray it even to the non- 
expert eye. The top half of the bill has a little bend 
just at the tip to pinch effectively the slippery prey. 
The feet are webbed, very thoroughly webbed. All 
four toes are connected by webbing ; and this is one, 
and indeed the chief, reason for uniting the pelican with 
the cormorant, the gannet, the tropic bird, the darter, 
and the frigate bird, to form the group Steganopodes ; 
Professor Huxley called them Dysporomorphe on 
account of the fact that the nostril is almost, or some- 
times, as it appears, quite choked up by growths of 
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