Note: The American white pelican ({Pelecanus
erythrorhynchos}) and the brown species ({P. fuscus})
are abundant on the Florida coast in winter, but breed
about the lakes in the Rocky Mountains and British
America.
2. (Old Chem.) A retort or still having a curved tube or
tubes leading back from the head to the body for
continuous condensation and redistillation.
Note: The principle is still employed in certain modern forms
of distilling apparatus.
{Frigate pelican} (Zo["o]l.), the frigate bird. See under
{Frigate}.
{Pelican fish} (Zo["o]l.), deep-sea fish ({Eurypharynx
pelecanoides}) of the order {Lyomeri}, remarkable for the
enormous development of the jaws, which support a large
gular pouch.
{Pelican flower} (Bot.), the very large and curiously shaped
blossom of a climbing plant ({Aristolochia grandiflora})
of the West Indies; also, the plant itself.
{Pelican ibis} (Zo["o]l.), a large Asiatic wood ibis
({Tantalus leucocephalus}). The head and throat are
destitute of feathers; the plumage is white, with the
quills and the tail greenish black.
{Pelican in her piety} (in heraldry and symbolical art), a
representation of a pelican in the act of wounding her
breast in order to nourish her young with her blood; -- a
practice fabulously attributed to the bird, on account of
which it was adopted as a symbol of the Redeemer, and of
charity.
{Pelican's foot} (Zo["o]l.), a marine gastropod shell of the
genus {Aporrhais}, esp. {Aporrhais pes-pelicani} of
Europe.