Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 571;
Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 471; Sharpe, Hand-List
(1899), 1, 238; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 217; McGregor,
Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 14, pls. 3 & 4; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 40; Dubois, Genera Avium, Pelecanidæ
(1907), 3, pl. fig. 4.
Pelecanus manillensis Oates, Birds Brit. Burmah (1883), 2, 236;
Hume, Nests & Eggs Ind. Bds. Oates ed. (1890), 3, 276.
Pa-ga'-la, Manila.
Luzon (Sonnerat, McGregor, Worcester); Mindanao (Mearns). India
and Ceylon, south to Burmah and Malay Peninsula, east to China
and Hainan.
"Adult in breeding plumage.--(September to February). General
color pure white; forehead, top of head, fairly long crest, cheeks,
and neck covered with dense curly, very soft, pure white feathers,
with their black bases more or less visible; hind neck, from crest to
upper back, covered with soft grayish brown feathers, forming a mane;
upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts white, tinged, especially
on the lesser wing-coverts, with cream-color; winglet, primaries,
and primary-coverts brownish black, with the upper surface of the
shafts dark; secondaries grayish brown, paler on the outer web and
shading into brownish gray on innermost secondaries; an interscapular
line down the middle of upper back; lower back, rump, flanks, under
tail-coverts, axillars, and under wing-coverts vinaceous; rest of
under parts pure white, chest and upper breast tinged with yellow;
tail-feathers ashy, paler toward the tips and with dark shafts. Tail
composed of 22 feathers. 'Bill pinkish yellow, the lateral portions
of the upper mandible with large bluish black spots; the nail and
terminal halves of both mandibles orange-yellow; central portions of
sides of lower mandible smeared with bluish black; pouch dull purple,
blotched and spotted with bluish black; eyelids and skin round eye
orange-yellow; skin in front of eye livid; legs and feet very dark
brown; claws yellowish horn; iris stone-white, varying to pale yellow,
clouded with brown.' (Oates.) Length, 1,295 to 1,500; culmen, 320 to
368; wing, 558 to 610; tail, 203 to 421; tarsus, 84 to 96. The female
is somewhat smaller than the male, but not conspicuously so.
"Adult in non-breeding plumage (March-August).--Plumage similar to
that of the young after the first molt.
"Nestling.--Covered with white down; iris dark brown; bill pale
plumbeous; legs china-white; pouch pale bluish white. The down on the
wings soon turns to pale rufous; and the scapulars, when they appear,
are brown, edged with ferruginous; the wing-coverts, on making their
appearance, are furnished with a dense fringe of rufous down, which,
however, soon falls off, leaving the feathers with rufous margins;
the scapulars are developed very rapidly, and their ferruginous
margins are diminished in extent as the bird grows; the down on the
head and neck gives place to brownish feathers, and the crest and
loose feathers of the mane on the hind neck soon make their appearance.
"The young bird, when fully fledged, retains its first feathers
for at least one year, the only change being that the brown colors
become darker and the rufous edgings abraded and consequently less
marked. The impressed spots on the bill are not indicated till the
sixth month, and even at the end of twelve months these spots are
quite indistinct, compared with those of the adult bird. Toward the
end of the first year a livid spot appears in front of the eyes and
soon becomes clearly defined. The nail and the terminal third of the
edges of the bill are yellow, legs and toes flesh-color.
"After the first molt, at about twelve months of age, the whole head
and neck are covered with short, soft, downy feathers, the bases of
which are black, the tips white; and the crest and mane are developed
to the same extent as in the adult; the shoulders and scapulars
are wood-brown; the lesser and median coverts to the secondaries
wood-brown; the feathers all edged with paler; the greater coverts
darker brown, edged with light brown; the coverts to the tertiaries
grayish brown, edged with pale fulvous. The whole of the coverts
narrow and sharp-pointed; the winglet, primaries, and their coverts
dark brown; the secondaries brown, tinged with ashy on the outer webs;
the whole back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and flanks white; the lower
plumage whitish brown, each feather being white with the tip brownish,
the feathers close, dense, and soft.
"In June of the third year, or when the bird is about thirty months
old, the molt into adult breeding plumage is commenced and the
change is entirely effected by October, except that in this first
breeding season the wing-coverts never become entirely white as
in the old birds, the feathers of these parts being a mixture of
long sharp-pointed, white feathers, and comparatively blunt brown
ones. Between June and October the pouch, which has hitherto been
spotless, becomes blotched with livid as in the adults, the blotches
extending to the face; the legs turn to dark brown; the iris becomes
paler brown; and the spots on the bill become firm and well defined.
"Mr. E. W. Oates, having kept large numbers of P. philippensis
in confinement, has had exceptional opportunities of studying the
changes of plumage, and the above descriptions are the results of
his observations, published in his Birds of British Burmah." (Grant.)
"We were informed that pelicans were abundant on the Laguna de Bay
at certain seasons, but when we were there none were to be found. A
number of specimens are preserved in the Jesuit Museum at Manila,
and several live birds were to be seen there on different occasions
when we visited the Museum. Padre Sanchez kindly offered us specimens,
and we intended to accept his offer at a later date, but unforeseen
circumstances prevented our doing so." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
"Abundant about fish-breeding ponds in tide-water marshes of Bulacan
in February, 1904. Also at Anao, Tarlac Province, in same month and
year. Fairly common in the Candaba swamp, Luzon." (Worcester.)
Order ACCIPITRIFORMES.