MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS. 43 



mandible with upright horn. Post-breeding plumage : crest replaced by 

 short grayish feathers, upper mandible without horny excrescence. Adults 

 in winter plumage : back of head white ; bill pouch and feet pale yellow 

 instead of orange. Young : white, with gray on top of head and lesser 

 wing coverts. Length : A^ to nearly () feet ; extent 8^ to nearly 10 feet ; 

 wing 20.00-25.25, bill 11.05-15.00 ; weight about 17 lbs. 



Distribution. — North America from latitude 01° to Guatemala. 



Nest. — Usually on islands, sometimes a depression in gravel or sand, 

 lined with seaweeds ; but generally a thin layer of sticks and weeds, laid 

 on the ground or on rocks. Eggs : 1 to 3, dull white, like those of the 

 Canada goose, but with rougher shell. 



The white pelican is more a bird of the interior than of the coast 

 districts, and still breeds in great colonies on a few of the larger 

 lakes. Some of the little islands which used to be covered with 

 nests are abandoned now, the splendid birds having been driven 

 away by wanton persecution. 



The pelicans are eminently social at all seasons, sometimes gather- 

 ing in flocks of many hundreds along the shore, where, by beating 

 the water with their wings, they drive the fish into the shallows, to 

 scoop them up with their wide pouches. At other times they may 

 be seen circling, wheeling, and soaring overhead, in magnificeut aerial 

 drill, or riding buoyantly on the surface of the water like a squadron 

 of white ships. Vernon Bailey. 



Subgenus Leptopelicanus. 



127. Pelecanus calif ornicus Ridgw. Califoknia Brown Peli- 



can.^ 



Tail feathers 22. Breeding plumage : pouch reddish ; head, and feathers 

 next to pouch, white ; crown tinged with yellow ; neck, including mane- 

 like crest, rich velvety brown ; iipper parts silvery gray, streaked with 

 brownish ; under parts brownish, streaked on sides with white. Winter 

 plumage : head and neck white, tinged with yellowish on throat and crown. 

 Young : upper parts grayish brown, darker on back ; under i)arts white, 

 tinged on sides with brownish. Length : 4i feet or more, wing 20.5(>-2.'5.25, 

 bill 12.25-14.75. 



Distribution. — Pacific coast from southern British Columbia to Gala- 

 pagos Islands. 



FAMILY FREGATIDJE: MAN O -WAR BIRDS. 



GENUS FREGATA. 



128. Fregata aquila Linn. Man-o'-War Bird. 



Wings very long ; tail deeply forked ; feet small, half webbed. Adult 

 male : plumage black, base of wings glo.ssed 

 with greenish or purpli.sh. Adult female : 



plumage dull black: wings with grayisli 



/^ V ^ ^^^^^^tl l— ^^S<: ' patch; sides and breast white. Young: 



If — ^g^-—^^^- liead, neek. and under p;irts white ; uj)per 



p.irfs dull brownish hl.ick. Length: l!7.5(>- 



11.0(1. wing 22.()»»-27.H», tail ib25-ll).25, 



CO. forked for about 1) ; bill 4.25-5.15. 



A specimen of P. occidcntalis wns tnkeii in WyominK. July. 18U9. {The Auk, xvi. '.VA.) 



