PELECANUS.
Bill peculiar, lower mandible much wider than upper and with a large pouch ; frequent lakes, rivers, coasts ; feed on fish ; nest on small islands or platform of reeds in lagoons or lakes; eggs 2-3, chalky white.
Pelecanus onocrotalus onocrotalus L. ROSEATE PELICAN. Fr. Pelican blanc ; Ger. Pelikan ; Ital. Pellicano.
y White (rosy tinged in fresh plumage) ; short nuchal crest (in breeding season) and tuft on chest yellowish ; primaries black, shafts white. Iris red. Bill bluish grey with pink lines, throat-pouch yellow, face and sides of frontal protuberance yellowish. Feathers of forehead end in a point at base of culmen.
Legs and feet pink. Wing 700-730, 640-680. Tarsus 130-140. Bill a 430-450, 2w-400 (H.). Young : chocolate brown ; in first summer white, spangled brown.
Breeds.—Lower Danube, Dobrudscha, Black and Caspian Seas, Sea of Azov ; also in 1,V. Asia, and possibly in E. African lakes. Occurs on Croatian littoral on passage, and in winter in Macedonia, Greece, Egypt, and Africa south to Zambesi and S.W. Asia to India. Has occurred casually in central Europe
to E. Prussia and also in Spain, Algeria, and Scandinavia ; much more frequently in Austria and regularly in Hungary.
Pelecanus crispus Bruch. DALMATIAN PELICAN.
Above greyish white, soft feathers on neck forming a mane ; primaries black with black shafts ; beneath dull white with a patch of yellow feathers on breast ; feathers on forehead terminate in a concave line at base of bill. Iris greyish. Bill blue grey with red markings at side, pouch yellow ; hare space round eye flesh coloured. Legs and feet leaden grey. Wing 8' 72o-Soo, 680-720. Tarsus 116-122. Bill 8' 400-450, y (H.).
Breeds.—Rumania (on Danube and Delta), N. Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Sea of Azov, Volga Delta and E. Russia to Ufa and Kazan ; also W. and C. Asia. Of occasional occurrence in spring in Hungary ; winters in Egypt and S.W. Asia to India. Rare visitor Germany, Italy, Sicily, Spain.