PELECANID^E— THE PELICANS. 195 



Family PELECANIDiE — The Pelicans. 



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

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

 ble; 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. erythrorhynchos and the Paloearctic P. cris- 

 pus — extend in summer to high northern latitudes. As may be 

 seen from the synonymy of the genus Pelecanus, 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 Li.vweus. 



Pelecanus Linn. S. N. ed. 10, i. 1758.132; ed 12. i, 1766, 215. Type. P. onocrotalus Linn. 

 (Jnocrotalus Bkiss. Orn. vi, 1760, 519. Type, Pelecanus onocrotalus Linn. 

 Cyrtopelicanus Reich. Syst. Av. 1853, p. vii. Type, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmel.. 

 Leptopelicanus Reich. 1. c. Type, Pelecanus fuscus Linn. 

 Catoptrupelicanus Reich. 1. c. Type, Pelecanus conspicillatus Temm. 



The characters of this genus being the same as those given 

 above for the Family Pelecanidce, it is unnecessary to repeat them 

 here. It is possible, however, that the genus as here used in a 

 comprehensive sense should be subdivided, as indicated by the 

 above synonymy. 



The species which occur in Illinois may be thus distinguished: 



A. Lower jaw densoly feathered to the base <>f the mandible. Tail-feathers 21. (Subgenus 

 Cviopeboanun.) 

 i. P. erythrorhvnohog. Color white, the primaries blackl«h. B1U and feet yellowish, 



deepening to red in the brooding-season. Wiug, 22.oo-20.25 Inchoa: ouunou, 11.30- 

 13.85. 



