386 CLASS XVI. 



narrowed at tlie tip. Nostrils in the middle of bill. Hallux simple. 

 Tarsi reticulate, with hexagonal scales. Neck very long. 



Sp. Cygnus olor Gm., Buff. PI. enl. 913, Naum. Taf. 295, Guekin Iconogr., 

 Ois. PL 66, fig. I ; the swa7i, le cygne, der Scliwan, &c. The feathers on 

 the whole body are wliite ; the bill red with a black tip and black sides, 

 a tubercle at the fore part of the head. This species lives in lakes and 

 laroe ponds of the middle of Germany and in the east of Europe, and is 

 met with almost everywhere as a tame bird, especially in the basins and 

 ponds of many Dutch towns. The trachea in both sexes runs direct to 

 the lungs without curvatures. On the other hand the double curvature of 

 the trachea is remarkable in Anas Cygnus (ferus) L., Briss. Ornith. VI, 

 Tab. 28, Cygnus xanihorhinus Naum., Taf. 296, the %vild swan, a species 

 which, with us, passes along the coast in winter, and is distinguished by 

 its black bill, yellow only at the base, and by the absence of the tubercle 

 on the forehead; this species broods in Lapland, Russia, Siberia, &c. — 

 Cygnus BewicMi Yark., Cygnus islaiidicus Brehm, Cygnus melanorhinus 

 Naum. Taf. 297, smaller than the preceding; observed sometimes in Hol- 

 land in the winter. 



In New Holland there lives a black species with a red bill, Ajias atrata 

 Lath., Anas plutonia Shaw, Cygne noir du Cap de Dienien, Labillakdiere 

 Voyage a la Reck, de La Peteouse, Atlas, PI. 9, Less. Ornith. PI. 117, 

 fig. I ; swans of this species may be seen in London in St James's Park. 



Family III. Stega7io]jodes Illig. Bill long or moderate. 

 Wings adapted for flying, long or rather long. Feet short, tetra- 

 dactylous, with hallux placed internally and directed forwards, 

 joined by membrane to the inner toe. Tarsi reticulate, with scales 

 hexagonal. 



Pelecanus Illig., Temm. (species from gen. Pelecanus L.). Bill 

 longer than head, broad, depressed, terminated by a hook. Nostrils 

 basal, linear, narrow. An unplumed region at the base of bill. 

 Lower mandible composed of two flexile branches, sustaining tlie 

 lax unfeathered skin of the throat. Tail rounded, short. 



The pelicans are large white birds, which live on fish, and occur in 

 various countries both of the old and new world. "With Linnaeus the 

 genus Pelecanus comprises almost all the species of this family; to the 

 genus, as limited by modern writers, only few species belong. On the 

 specific characters may be consulted, H. Lichtenstein, in Ahiiandl. der 

 Akad. zu Berlin, Physik. Kl. 1838^ Beitr. z. ornith. Fauna von California 

 &c. s. 17 — 32. The skeleton of the pelican is distinguished by its many 

 hollow bones, its great pneumaticity. With the ancients the common 

 European species occurs as Onocrotalus (Plinius) and neXe/ctcos (Oppianus), 

 whilst the birds named lieXeKaves by Aristoteles were probably Platalew, 

 but at least wei-e certainly not the birds now named pelicans ; BraNDT 



