the science, to find out why the artist appears to have portrayed the shaggy-plumed Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus), now a rare winter visitor to Egypt, rather than a White Pelican (P. onocrotalus) or a Pink-backed (P. refescens), which are also winter visitors; why grass appears below and above the eggs; whether two of the pelicans are preening or performing a courtship ritual; why priests were apparently forbidden to eat pelican meat; and, for that matter, whether the ancient Egyptians would enjoy eating the fishy-tasting meat and comparably fishy-tasting eggs.[24]

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