PALMIPEDES. 417 



end of the upper mandible hooked, and that of the lower one truncat- 

 ed^ the tongue is very snaall, and the skin of the throat less dilatable; 

 the nostrils resemble a'small unpierced line, and the nail of the mid- 

 dle toe is notched like a saw. 



The True Cormorants have a round tail composed of fourteen 

 quills. 



Pel. carho, L., Enl. 927; the young, Frisch, 187 and 188; and 

 Brit. Zool.pl. L, 1. (The Cormorant.) Black-brown, undulated 

 with jet black on the back, and mixed with white near the end 

 of the bill and front of the neck; circumference of the throat 

 and the cheeks, white, in the male, which also has a tuft on the 

 occiput. Its size is that of the Goose. It breeds in holes among 

 the rocks or upon trees, and lays three or four eggs. 



Pel. graculus, Gm.; Enl. 974, the young. (The Little Cor- 

 morant.) Is somewhat smaller, of a deeper black and more 

 bronzed; no white on the front of the neck; the feathers on the 

 back more pointed; not so common as the preceding species. (1) 



Tachypetes, Vieill. 



The Frigate Birds differ from the Cormorants in their forked tail 

 and short feet, the membranes of which are deeply emarginated; in 

 an excessive length of wing, and in a bill both of whose mandibles 

 are curved at the point. So powerful are their wings, that they fly 

 to an immense distance from all land, principally between the tro- 

 pics, darting upon the Flying Fish and striking the Boobies to make 

 them disgorge their prey. 



One species only is well known, the Pelecanus aquilus, L., Enl. 

 961, Vieill., Gal., pi. 274, whose plumage is black, the under part 

 of the throat and neck more or less varied with white, and the 

 bill red. Its wings, when expanded, are said to measure from 

 ten to twelve feet.(2) 



SuLA, Briss. DysporuSj IHig. 



The Boobies(3) have a straight, slightly compressed, pointed 

 bill, the point slightly arcuated; its edges are serrated, the teeth 



(1) Add the Cormoran Imigup., Tem. [Pel. crisiatus, Olafs.), Voy. en Isl., tr. 

 fr. pi. xliv, Col. 322, and Vieill. Gal. 276; Pel. africanus. Lath.; Sparm. Mas. 

 Carls., I, 10; Pe/ec. pygmwus, Pall., Voy., App., pi. 1. 



(2) Naturalists have, somewhat gratuitously, raised to the rank of species the 

 Pelec. minor, Edw. 309, and kucocephalus, Bufi'. Ois., VIII, pi. xxx, and perhaps 

 even the P. Pulmerstoni, Lath. 



(3) Sulct is the name of the common species at the Feroe Islands, Hoyer, Clu- 

 sius, Exot. 36. Booby, their English name, from their stupidity, ut sup. 



Vol, I. 3 C 



