 References in nonroyal funerary papyri show that the pelican was believed to possess the ability to prophesy safe passage in the underworld for someone who had died.Consumption of pelican, as with other seabirds, is considered not kosher as an unclean animal, and thus forbidden in Jewish dietary law.An origin myth from the Murri people of Queensland, cited by Andrew Lang, describes how the Australian pelican acquired its black and white plumage.