28 Birds of Colorado 



on trees in the interior, laying pale bluish eggs of oval 

 shape, often covered with a chalky investment. They 

 have been reported to breed in Utah and Wyoming, 

 but not hitherto in Colorado. 



Mexican Cormorant. Phalacrocorax vigua mexicanus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 121— Colorado Record— Felger 01, p. 189. 



Description. — Resembling P. auritus but smaller — wing 10"0 to 10'5 

 — and with a white gorget bordering the gular sac behind and almost 

 reaching the eye ; the white nuptial plumes form a packet on either 

 side of the head, and others are scattered on the neck and beUy. Length 

 about 28 ; wing 10"0 ; tail 6'0 ; tarsus and cuknen about 2'0. 



In winter the gorget and nuptial plumes are absent. Young birds 

 are greyish-brown, paler and whiter below. 



Distribution. — The coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies, 

 north along the Mississippi Valley to Kansas and Illinois. 



A. H. Felger reports that an adult male of this species was taken 

 at Smith's Lake, fourteen miles north of Denver, October 15th, 1899 ; 

 it was identified by himself and by H. G. Smith. This is the only 

 Colorado record. 



Family PELECANID^E. 

 Characters of the only genus. 



Genus PELECANUS- 



BiU long and flattened, the culmen forming a rounded ridge and 

 ending at the tip in a downward curved hook ; nostrils small and 

 rudimentary ; a very large gular pouch of naked skin depending from 

 between the two somewhat flexible rami of the lower jaw and reaching 

 posteriorly some way down the neck ; wing long, tail short, slightly 

 wedge-shaped, of twenty-two to twenty -four feathers. 



Eleven species are generally recognized ; three of these occur in 

 the United States. 



American White Pelican. Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 125 — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, p. 188 ; 

 Drew 85, p. 18 ; Beckham 85, p. 144 ; Morrison 89, p. 148 ; Cooke 97, 

 pp. 18, 52, 193 ; Rockwell 08, p. 157 ; Henderson 09, p. 225 ; Felger 

 09, p. 279. 



