THE PELICANS 2049 



so that the whole beak may be compared to a bag net, to which the upper 

 mandible acts as a lid. The extremity of the latter ends in a slightly hooked 

 knob, of which the horny covering is from time to time shed. The body is very 

 massive, the neck long and comparatively slender, the head small, and the legs are 

 short with very elongated toes. The wings, in which the third quill is the longest, 

 are large and broad, and the tail, which contains from eighteen to twenty-four 

 feathers, is short, broad, and rounded. Although thick, the general plumage is 

 remarkable for its harshness and roughness, the feathers of the breast ending in 

 narrow points; while on the back of the head there is generally a helmet-like crest. 

 The adults of the two sexes are nearly similar in coloration, but the young are 

 very different. In the skeleton the furcula is welded to the breastbone, as in the 

 cormorants; but the vertebrae of the back differ from those of the latter in having 

 saddle-shaped, instead of ball-and-socket surfaces for articulation with one another. 

 All the bones, and likewise the integuments, are penetrated to a most remarkable 

 extent by air cavities. Pelicans, of which there are some half score of kinds, are re- 

 stricted to the tropical and warmer regions of the globe, where they have a very wide 

 distribution. They are all very similiar in general appearance and habits, although 

 the American white pelican (Pelecanus trachyrhynchus} differs from the rest in being 

 an expert diver. The common European pelican (P. onocrotalus) , as the best-known 

 representative of the genus, will serve to illustrate the habits of all. It belongs to 

 a group characterized by the feathers of the forehead extending forward in a point 

 on to the upper part of the beak. During the breeding season the back of the head 

 carries a somewhat elongated crest; the upper mandible is reddish at the base and 

 yellowish at the tip, with a line of crimson along the middle, while the lower 

 mandible is pale red, and the pouch and naked space round the eye, as well as the 

 feet, are flesh colored. Of the plumage, the primaries and bastard wing are black; 

 the long feathers on the front of the lower part of the neck yellow, and the 

 remainder white, with a tinge of rose color. The tail has eighteen feathers. In 

 birds of the first year, the plumage is a uniform grayish brown, the lanceolate 

 feathers of the breast being wanting; and it is not for some years that the full 

 plumage is acquired, the depth of the rose tint being most marked during the breed- 

 ing season. This species, which attains a length of about five feet, inhabits the 

 more southern parts of Europe and Northern Africa, while it also occurs in Western 

 Africa at Senegambia and Mozambique. While common in Hungary, the Crimea, 

 Egypt, and the Ionian islands, it only occurs occasionally in France and Algeria. In 

 India there is a rather smaller form (P. minor} distinguished by the presence of a 

 long pendent crest at all seasons; this form also ranging over Greece, Egypt, 

 Abyssinia, and Western Africa. As to whether the common Bengal pelican is 

 identical with the European species, there is some doubt. The other European 

 species is the crested pelican (P. crispus), which belongs to the group in which the 

 feathers of the forehead are truncated in front and terminate more or less squarely 

 on the base of the beak. In this species the general plumage is white tinged with 

 gray, the wing black, and the feathers of the crown and back of the head crinkled 

 and elongated into a large crest. The eye is silver white, the beak grayish yellow 

 above, the pouch blood red shaded with blue, and the foot black. Fossil pelicans 

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