 An origin myth from the Murri people of Queensland , cited by Andrew Lang , describes how the Australian pelican acquired its black and white plumage . The pelican , formerly a black bird , made a canoe during a flood in order to save drowning people . He fell in love with a woman he thus saved , but she and her friends tricked him and escaped . The pelican consequently prepared to go to war against them by <unk> himself with white clay as war paint . However , before he had finished , another pelican , on seeing such a strange piebald creature , killed him with its beak , and all such pelicans have been black and white ever since . 
