es 
300 PELECANID®, PELICANS.—GEN. 274. 
comb or crest, the use of which is not known. It is supposed to be a weapon of 
attack or defence in the combats that occur at the breeding season between rival 
males, being found only in this sex, and during the breeding season alone. It 
appears to be shed and renewed in a manner analogous to the casting of deer’s 
a remarkable circumstance first noticed, I believe, by Mr. Ridgway. Its 
structure explains how this can be: ‘The crest-like excrescence on the ridge of 
the upper mandible is not formed of bone, nor otherwise connected with the osseous 
surface, which is smooth and continuous beneath it, than by being placed upon it, 
like any other part of the skin; and when softened by immersion in a liquid may 
be bent a little to either side. It is composed internally of erect slender plates of 
a fibrous texture, externally of horny fibres, which are erect on the sides, and 
longitudinal on the broadened ridge; these fibres being continuous with the cutis 
and cuticle” (Audubon). ; 
Pelicans are found in most temperate and tropical countries, both coastwise and 
inland; they are gregarious birds at all times, and gather in immense troops to 
breed. A large rude nest is prepared on the ground, or built of sticks in a low bush 
near the water; the eggs appear to be one to three, plain dull whitish, with a thick 
roughened shell. The gait of these cumbersome birds is awkward and constrained ; 
but their flight is easy, firm and protracted, and they swim lightly and gracefully, 
buoyed up by the interior air-sacs. The sexes are alike; the young different ; most 
species are white, with yellow or rosy hue at times, and a crest or lengthened 
feathers, at the breeding season; while nearly every one of them has a peculiar 
contour of the feathering at the base of the bill, by which it may be known. There 
are only six unquestionable species, although some authors admit eight or nine. 
The four exotic ones are: JP. onocrotalus of Europe, Asia and Africa (including 
the P. minor and javanicus of authors), with the frontal feathers extending in a 
point on the culmen; P. crispus of the same countries, the largest of the genus, 
and P. rufescens (with philippinus) of various parts of the Old World, in both of 
which the frontal outline is concave on the base of the culmen; and, finally, the 
Australian P. conspicillatus, in which a strip of feathers cuts off the naked cireum- 
ocular region from the base of the bill. This is an entirely peculiar feature; and 
our white pelican shows another, having the sides of the under mandible feathered 
at base for a short distance. Excellent accounts of the genus have been given by 
Dr. Sclater and Mr. Elliot (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, 264, and 1869, 571). 
horns 
274. Genus PELECANUS Linnezus. 
American White Pelican. White; occiput and breast yellow; primaries, 
their coverts, bastard quills, and many secondaries, black; bill, sac, lores 
and feet yellow. About 5 feet long; expanse 7-9; wing 2; bill 1 or more; 
tail 4, normally 24-feathered. N.Am.; N. to 61°; very abundant in the 
west; only accidental in the Middle and Eastern States. Rion. and Sw., 
F. B.-A., ii, 472; Nutrt., ii, 471; Aup., vii, 20, pl. 422; Lawr. in Bp., 
868.0 cigGoecce dese bie pee ls oe een oe aa es ene, RUA Eve ER CEU 
Brown Pelican. Dark-colored, variegated; neck of the adult mostly 
reddish-brown, head mostly white; bill dark, varied with red; sac blackish ; 
feet black; rather smaller than the last; tail normally 22-feathered. 
S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and California, abundant, strictly maritime. 
Norr., ii, 476; Aup., vii, 82, pls. 423, 424; Lawr. in Bp., 870. ¥Fuscus. 
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