FAMILY SULIDAE 55' 



The subspecies carolinensis ranges from the southeastern United 

 States along the continental coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the 

 Caribbean Sea. It is found also on the Pacific side from Guatemala 

 (possibly from southern Mexico) south along the Isthmus of 

 Panama. Birds from the Pacific side of Panama usually show an 

 approach in darker color of the hindneck to the race Pelecanus 

 occidentalis murphyi Wetmore of the Pacific coast of Colombia and 

 Ecuador, but are to be placed with carolinensis. 



Pelicans are known locally among fishermen as cuacos. Those 

 who speak English around Almirante call them "Old Joe." 



Lionel Wafer (Isthm. Amer., 1699, p. 120) wrote of the pelican 

 that "under the throat hangs a Bag or Pouch, which, when fill'd is 

 as large as both ones Fists. The substance of it is a thin membrane, 

 of a fine grey, ashy Colour. The Seamen Kill them for the sake of 

 these bags, to make Tobacco-pouches of them ; for when dry, they 

 will hold a pound of Tobacco; and by a Bullet hung in them they 

 are soon brought into shape." Berthold Seemann (Voy. Herald, 

 vol. 1, 1853, p. 263) describes a deer call that he saw used by 

 hunters in Veraguas made from the wing bone of a pelican "covered 

 at one end with a peculiar kind of cobweb, which forms an instru- 

 ment that will imitate the cry of a young deer so closely that the 

 old ones, in the belief that some mishap has befallen their kid, repair 

 to the place and are shot." 



On the San Bias coast, the Cuna string segments of hollow wing 

 bones of pelicans, usually the ulna, as pendants on necklaces. 



Family SULIDAE : Boobies, Gannets ; Bobas, Piqueros 



The species of this family, like others in the order Pelecani formes, 

 range worldwide. Gannets are birds of the temperate zones ; boobies 

 are found through tropical seas. Four of the 7 living species of the 

 latter group range along Panamanian coasts, confined wholly to 

 salt-water habitat. The family as a whole is an ancient one in avian 

 history, and numerous fossil species have been named from bones 

 found in deposits that range in age throughout the vast reaches of 

 Tertiary time. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF SULIDAE 



1. Feet red or reddish in all plumages Red-footed booby, Stila sula, p. 63 



Feet greenish, yellow, yellowish, or orange ; never red 2 



