Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/246

 PELICAN entirely on fishes, and the pouch is capacious enough to hold fish sufficient for the dinner of half a dozen men; they are good swimmers, divers, and fliers, and can perch easily on trees. In the morning and evening they leave their roosting places in flocks of about a dozen, and fly to their fishing grounds ; they fisn until sat- isfied, swallowing their prey on the spot, and retiring with a full crop to some solitary place to digest it. Their flight is at times elevated, and at others they skim near the surface, bal- ance themselves when they see a fish, and fall headlong upon it with the apparent risk of breaking their necks. The white pelican (P. onocrotalus, Linn.), the onocrotalus of Pliny but not of the Greeks, is between 5 and 6 ft. long, and 12 to 13 ft. in expanse of wings; the general color is white, with rosy tinges, and the primaries are black ; the upper mandi- ble is bluish with red and yellow tints, and the hook on the end is bright red ; the pouch is yellow. It is found in S. E. Europe, Asia, and Africa, sometimes coming as far W. as Ger- many, but not to Great Britain. The nest is generally made in a rude manner on inaccessi- ble rocks, near fresh or salt water, and the eggs are two to four; it builds sometimes on trees remote from water ; the young are fed by the regurgitated food of the parents; this opera- tion is rendered easier by pressing the pouch and lower mandible against the breast, and the contrast of the red hook of the bill against the white of the breast probably gave rise to the poetic idea of the ancients that the female .peli- White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus). can nourished her young with her blood. It is very long-lived ; in captivity it will eat rats and small mammals as well as fish; its flesh was forbidden to the Jews, and few would care to eat it, as it is very rank, fishy, and oily ; it is said to have been tamed and employed in fishing, like the cormorant among the Chinese. Its pouch has been used to make caps and bon- nets and tobacco bags; the Siamese make of it strings for musical instruments, and the Nile and other boatmen use it with the lower jaw attached for baling water from their canoes; it will hold in the living bird 10 to 12 quarts of water, and hence the pelican is called " river camel " by the Egyptians. A variety or species (P. crispus, Bruch.) in S. E. Europe is some- what larger, of a more grayish white, with curled feathers on the back and sides of the head ; these collect in flocks, extend their line in the form of a crescent, and by flapping their wings and plunging into the water drive a shoal of fish into a small and shallow space, American White Pelican (Pelecanus trachyrhynchus). speedily obtaining a full supply. The Amer- ican white or rough-billed pelican (P. erythro- rhynchus, Gmel. ; genus cyrtopelecanm, Keich.) is about 6 ft. long, with an alar extent of between 8 and 9 ft., and a weight of 17 or 18 Ibs. It much resembles the P. onocrotalus, being of a general white color, tinged with roseous in the breeding season ; the prima- ries are black and the iris white; the head and neck are covered with slender, small, and downy feathers, elongated into a crest on the nape and running down the back of the neck ; on the body generally the feathers are narrow and long; the crest is yellow, the eyes very bright, and in -spring the legs, feet, bill, and pouch are orange red, fading to yellowish in autumn. The bill is 14 in. long, and the sac besides this length extends 8 in. on the throat, being 7 in. deep at the widest part ; the wings are long, narrow, and rounded, and the pri- maries much curved; the tail consists of 24 feathers ; the horny and fibrous ridge on the upper mandible of the males increases with age, and is used as a means of defence in their battles; the females are rather smaller than the males. Abundant during the winter in Florida, it is found in summer in the interior of the fur countries as far as lat. 61 JS". ; it does not occur on the coast of the middle and northern states, as the course of migra- tion is along the great inland rivers. They do not dive for their prey either from the wing or the surface of the water, but thrust the head under as far as the neck will allow, feed-