of the United States. 399 



species hardly ever walk or swim. Excel in flight, some spe- 

 cies flying continually day and night for several days, without 

 resting. Feed chiefly on fishes : voracious : great consumers. 

 Breed on trees or rocks, very few on the ground : eggs few : 

 both sexes incubate, nurse, and feed by regurgitation, the 

 young, which only leave the nest when full-fledged. Flesh 

 black, oily, bad tasted. Some species may be trained to fish 

 for man. 



Traced in all latitudes and longitudes. More closely re- 

 lated to the Longipennes, than to any other Family : ought 

 not to be separated from them by the Lamellosodentati, nor 

 ought they to separate these from the Pygopodes. 



A. Bill seamed above. 



76. PELECANUS. 



Pelecanns, L. Gm. Lath. III. Cuv. Temra. Vieill. Ranz. 

 Onocrotalus, Briss. Scopoli. 



Bill very long, broad, stout, straight, much depressed ; 

 upper mandible convex at base, then plane, seamed on each 

 side, ridge distinct, ending in a compressed, robust, and 

 strongly hooked nail ; lower broader, formed of two flexible 

 cartilaginous branches united at tip, supporting a naked 

 membrane, capable of forming by distention a pouch of great 

 size, extending beyond the throat ; edges of the upper man- 

 dible plane internally, separated from the palate by two lon- 

 gitudinal, approximated, sharp processes, palate carinated ; 

 lower edges sharp : nostrils in the furrow, basal, linear, lon- 

 gitudinal, hardly distinguishable : tongue cartilaginous, very 

 small, obtuse and arcuated at tip. Head moderate, face and 

 cheeks naked ; eyes rather large ; neck long, stoutish : body 

 massive. Feet nearly central, short, robust ; tibia naked 

 below ; tarsi shorter than the second toe, stout, naked ; 

 middle toe longest, one third longer than the outer; hind toe 

 shortest, hardly half as long as the middle one ; connecting 



