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Show 1868.] LIVING IN T H E SOCIETY'S GARDENS. 267 true P. minor of Riippell (Mus. Senck. ii. p. 185, et Syst. Ueb. p. 132, t. 49). It belongs to the same group as P. onocrotalus, having the frontal feathers produced into an acute angle between. the eyes, as shown by Lichtenstein, I. s. c. t. iii. fig. 2 a and in fig. 4 ; but no one who has seen the two species alive together would deny their specific distinctness. P. mitratus is at once distinguishable by its smaller size, by the purer white of the whole plumage, and the long pendent crest. Bonaparte (Consp. ii. p. 162) has united P. mitratus to P. rufescens. This is a great error*, as these birds belong to two distinct sections of the genus. In P. mitratus (see fig. 3, p. 266) the frontal plumes are produced between the eyes and terminate in an acute angle. In P. rufescens (fig. 4, p. 266), as will be seen from the sketches taken from our living specimens, these feathers terminate in a curved line which is concave towards the middle of the culmen. On the 16th of April last we received on deposit from a London dealer a third specimen of this species, but a younger bird. It has no crest, and the smaller wing-coverts along the carpus are slightly variegated with black. 3. PELECANUS CRISPUS. Of this bird we have a single fine specimen, purchased in September 1853, and believed to have been received from Upper Egypt. The chief changes to be noted of this species in the breeding-season are the greater development of the crest, the brilliant orange-colour of the pouch, and a patch of lemon-colour on the breast. Pelecanus crispus is usually considered to be the rarest species of European Pelican; but in Epirus and Western Greece it is certainly much more abundant than P. onocrotalus. See Lord Lilford, •Ibis,' 1860, p. 355, and Mr. W . H. Simpson, ibid. p. 395. 4. PELECANUS RUFESCENS, Gm. (Plate XXVI.) On the 18th of M a y 1866 we purchased of a dealer the first living specimen of this Pelican I ever saw, and, so far as I know, the first that had ever reached this country alive. It was said to have been brought from Western iVfrica. This bird is not yet in adult plumage ; but I have thought it worth while to have a coloured figure made of it (Plate X X V I . fig. 1), as so little is known of the changes of plumage of these birds, and the only tolerable figure published (Riipp. Atlas, t. 21) represents the adult state. It will be observed that there are as yet no signs of the rufescent tinge on the lower back depicted in Riippell's figure. The lower back in this specimen is pure white, as is the whole of the body below; while the head above, scapulars, wings, and tail are of a mottled grey. More recently (on the 5th inst.) we have acquired two young Pelicans from Western Africa, which are, I have little doubt, of the same species. One of these is represented in the background of the drawing (Plate X X V I . fig. 2). * Cf. Jerdon, B. India, iii. p. 856. |