FREGATA.—PELECANUS. 141- 
A breeding-place which Salvin !? visited in April, 1862, was situated on Man-o’-War 
Cay off the coast of British Honduras. As he approached, the birds flew off in a large 
flock and hovered above him after the manner of Rooks when their homes are 
disturbed. ‘The nests were placed on the tallest mangroves, so that he had to climb 
for the few rotten eggs which he managed to secure. On ascending a tree he was 
able to view the whole colony of nests containing young birds in every stage of growth. 
Where there were unhatched eggs he had the greatest difficulty in getting the old bird 
to move, from which he inferred that they did not like to expose them in their open 
nests to the heat of the tropical sun. A very interesting account of the nesting of the 
Frigate-bird on Bird Island in Fonseca Bay on the Pacific coast of Honduras is given 
by Mr. George Cavendish Taylor !°; he describes the nest as consisting of a frail 
platform of crossed sticks, hardly so large as that of our English Wood-Pigeon, on 
which only one chalky-white egg is laid. 
Fam. PELECANIDE. 
The Pelicans are a very distinct family of birds, distributed throughout the 
temperate and tropical regions of both Hemispheres. Mr. Pycraft’s osteological 
characters for the separation of the Pelecanide from the rest of the Steganopodes are 
few in number, as the external form is so peculiar that but little description is 
necessary. The palatines are fused in the middle line and are provided with a deep 
median keel; furcula fused with the carina sterni, which is about three-quarters of the 
length of the corpus sterni. Among the external characters which distinguish 
this family from all others may be mentioned the long flat bill with its hooked nail 
at the end, and the large pouch or bag suspended between the rami of the lower jaw 
and capable of very considerable dilation. The wings are of great size and strength, 
and, according to Mr. Ogilvie Grant (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 460), the tail- 
feathers vary from twenty-two to twenty-four in number. The tarsi are bare, very 
much compressed and reticulated. Eleven species of Pelicans have been described, 
of which two at least may be accounted inhabitants of Central America. 
PELECANUS. 
Pelecanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 215 (1766) ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 460 
(1898). 
The characters specified above as those of the family apply equally to the single 
genus Pelecanus, and need not be further discussed. 
Of the two Central-American species, P. erythrorhynchus, with its curious knob on 
the bill in the breeding-season, is quite distinct; but of P. fuscus, two races—an 
eastern and a western—are now recognized by American naturalists. In our opinion, 
however, the evidence on this point seems to be by no means conclusive, and we have 
deemed it better to unite them. 
