132 TOTIPALMATE SWDIMERS — STEGANOPODES. 



Family PELECANID^ : The Pelicans. 



Char. Bill greatly elongated and excessively depressed, the terminal unguis 

 very prominent and strongly hooked ; gular pouch exceedingly large and greatly 

 distensible; lores and orbital region — sometimes other parts of the head also — 

 naked. Toes fully webbed, the outer almost as long as the middle, the inner 

 much shorter. Tail very short, nearly even, or slightly rounded. Size usually 

 very large. 



The Pelicans include about ten species, which are found mostly in the warmer 

 parts of the world, although two of them — the common American P. erythrorJn/nchos 

 and the Paleearctic P. crisjms — extend in summer to high northern latitudes. As 

 may be seen from the synonymy of the genus Pelecanus as given below, these birds 

 have been divided into several genera by authors ; but each species possesses so 

 many peculiarities of external structure that it is doubtful whether the differences 

 between the supposed genera are of more than subgeneric importance.^ 



Genus PELECANUS, Linn^us. 



Pelecanus, LiXN. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 132 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 215 (type, P. onocrotalus, Linn.). 

 Onocrotahos, Biil.ss. Oni. VI. 1760, 519 (type, Pelecanus onocrotalus, LiXN.). 

 C[)rtopelicanus, Keich. Syst. Av, 1853, p. vii. (type, Pelecanus crythrorhynchos, Gmel. ). 

 Leptopelicanus, Reich. 1. c. (type, Pelecanus fuscus, Linn.). 

 Catoptropelicanus, Reich. L c. (type, Pclccanics conspicillahis, Temm.). 



The characters of this genus liaving been sufficiently indicated above, it is unnecessary to 

 repeat them liere. It is ([uite likely that the genus as here used in a comprehensive sense should 

 be subdivided, as indicated by the above synonymy. 



Tlie species of this genus which occur in North America may be thus distinguished : — 



A. Lower jaw densely featliered to the base of the mandible. Tail-feathers, 24. (Cyrtojjclicanus.y 



1. P. erythrorhynchos. Color white, the primaries blackish. Bill and feet yellowish, deep- 



ening to red in tlie breeding-season. Wing, 22.00-25.25 inches ; culmen, 11.30-13.85. 

 Hub. North America generally, lait rare along Atlantic coast ; north in the interior to 

 aljout Gl°, south to Central America. 



B. Lnwcr jaw wholly naked. Tail-feathers, 22. (Leptopelicanus.') 



2. P. fuscus. Prevailing color dusky, the upper parts silvery-striped in adults, grayish Iirown 



in the young ; bill dull grayish, or purplish brown, stained with red toward end (in 

 breeding-season) ; pouch greenish brown, grayish, or dusky. Wing, 19.00-21.00 inches : 

 culmen, 9.40-12.20. Hah. Coasts of Gulf of I\Iexico and Caril)bean Sea, including West 

 Indies ; Atlantic coast of South America 1 



3. P. californicus. Similar to P. fuscus, but larger, and with the pouch red in the breeding- 



season. Wing, 20.50-23.25 inches ; cuhnen, 12.25-14.75. Hah. Coast of California, from 

 San Francisco Bay to Cape St. Lucas. Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America? 



^ For a more comprehensive review of the Pelicans, the reader is referred to the "Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society of London," 1868, p. 264, pis. 25, 26 ; 1869, p. 571, pi. 44 ; 1871, p. 631, pi. 51. 



