164 



PELECANID.E. 



spread wings ; and such is also the Editor's experience of 

 the habits of this bird as observed in the deep clear water of 

 the coast of Donegal. In a tank or pond their movements 

 would naturallv be different. 



In the adult bird the bill is black, the base of the under 

 mandible chrome-yellow, and the naked skin about the gape 

 black, thickly studded with small round yellow spots ; the 

 irides green ; the forehead bearing a crest curved forward, 

 assumed very early in the spring; the crown, neck, breast, 

 and all the under surface of the body a rich dark green with 

 purple and bronze reflections ; back and wing- coverts dark 

 green, each feather with a narrow, but darker margin ; wing 

 and the twelve tail-feathers black ; legs, toes, and their mem- 

 branes black. Total length twenty-seven inches ; of the wing 

 from the wrist ten inches and three-quarters. Both sexes 

 are alike in plumage. 



Young birds have the l)ill very slender, the membrane of 

 the lower mandible yellow; the upper plumage brown, tinted 

 with green ; the under surface brownish-ash, mingled with 

 white. 



Mr. J. Whitaker has a variety, shot in Scotland in the 

 winter of 1883, of a cream colour with light brown markings 

 on the back and wings. 



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