OEDER biljuAjNUrUUlJu! TOTIPALMATE BIRDS. 



Family PELECANID^: Pelicans. 



PELECANUS TRACHYRHYNCHUS, Lath. 

 White Pelican. 



Pelecanus erythrorhyn chits, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 571.— Donnd., Beytr. Orn. ii, 850. — 

 BOMN., Eucy. Meth. 1791, 44.— Schl., Mus. P.-B. livr. iv, 35.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 

 868.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 265.— Wheat., Ohio Agric. Rep. 

 1860, No. 278 (rare).— Elliot, P. Z. S. 1869, 588 (monographic).— Coues, Ibis, 

 1866, 271 (coast of California). — Dhess., Ibis, 1866, 45 (Texas, in winter, com- 

 mon).— Coues, Pr. Phihi. Acad. 1866, 100 (Arizona).— Boardm., Pr. Best. Soc. 

 is, 1862, 130 (Calais, Maine, accidental).— Veru., Pr. Ess. Inst, iii, 1862, 160 

 (same). — Allen, ibid, iv, 1864, 89 (same). — Coues, ibid, v, 1868, 302 (same). — 

 McIlwr., ibid, v, 1866, 95 (Canada West, two instances). — Allen, Bull. M. C. 

 Z. ii, 1871, 364 (Florida, winter, common, and said to breed) j iii, 1872, 183 

 (Utah).— Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 1868, 125 (South Carolina).- Turnb., B. E. 

 Pa. 1869, 46 (rare).— Lawr., Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii, 1866, 298 (New York).— 

 Trippe, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 1872, 241 (Iowa).— Gllman, Am. Nat. iv, 1871, 758 

 (Lake Huron).— ?Mayn., Guide, 1870, 149 (Nantucket).— Clarke, Am. Nat. v, 

 1871, 252 (Lake Michigan).— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 11.— Eidgw., Ann. Lye. N. 

 Y. X, 1874, 390 (Illinois). 



Pelecanus trachyrhynchus, Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 884 (based on Rowih-billed Pelican of 

 Gen. Syn. vi, 586).— Steph., Shaw's G. Z. xiii, 1825, 117.— Light., Abb Akad. 

 Berl. 1838, pi. 3, f. 5.— Bp.,List, 1838,60.— Gray, Gen. of B. iii, 1849, 309.— Scl., 

 P. Z. S. 1808, 269; Ibis, i, 1859, 233 (Western Central America).— Newb., P. R. 

 R. Rep. vi, 1857, 109.— Heerm., ibid, x, 1859, pt. vi, 72.— Maxim., J. f. O. vii, 

 1859, 259.— Bd., Stansbury's Rep. 1852, 324.— Woodh., Sitgr. Rep. 1853, 105.— 

 Coues, Key, 1872, 300. 



CyrtopeUcanus trachyrhynchus, Reigh. — Bp., Consp. Av. ii, 1855, 163. 



Pelecanus onocrotalus var., FoRST., Phil. Trans. Ixii, 1772. 



Pelecanus onocrotalus, Bp., Syn. 1828, 400.— Sw. & Righ., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 472 (north to 

 61°).— NuTT., Man. ii, 1834, 471. (Not of European writers.) 



Pelecanus amtricanus, Aui)., Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 88, pi. 311 ; Syn. 1839, 309; B. Am. vii, 

 1844, 20, pi. 422. — Trippe, Pr. Ess. Inst, vi, 1871, 119 (Minnesota, common, mi- 

 gratory). 



"Pelecanus brachydactylus, Light.?" 



(?) Pelecanus occipitalis, Ridgw., "American Sportsman," iv, 1874, 297 (Nevada). 



Hob. — North America, up to lat. 61° at least. Rare or casual in the Middle States 

 and New England. Abundant in the interior, especially west of the Mississippi. Texas 

 and Florida. South to Central America. 



The geographical distribution of the White Pelican may be clearly 

 traced from the above quotations. Its occurrence in New England at 

 the present time is wholly fortuitous, though it has been observed in 

 Maine and Massachusetts. But Mr. Allen's record of a flock at Nan- 

 tucket {Am. Nat. iii, 640) is erroneous, as he subsequently pointed out 

 [ibid, iv, 68), P. fiiscus having been mistaken for it. It is of scarcely 

 oftener occurrence in the Middle States and most portions east of the 

 Mississippi, but is said to be common in Florida. In the West I have 

 found it in many localities — on the Red River of the North and some of 

 its affluents, on the Colorado of the West, and on the coast of Southern 

 California. It formerly bred in immense numbers about Great Salt 

 Lake, where it has decreased in abundance of late. Mr. Ridgway tells 

 me of vast bands now nesting about Pyramid Lake in Nevada, where 

 he took over a hundred eggs from as many nests ; these were merely a 



