2/4 VERTEBRATES I BIRDS. 



and tail rather short. They have a pouch under the 

 lower mandible and opening into the throat, which is 

 capable of great distention. Their flight is heavy. 



The Genus Pelicanus is the only one found in the 

 United States, where it is represented by two species. 



The Rough-billed Pelican, P. erythrorhynchus, Gm., is 

 seventy inches long, and the wing twenty-four and a half 

 inches ; the prevailing color white. 



The Brown Pelican, P.fuscus, Linn., of California and 

 Texas, is fifty-six inches long, and the wing twenty-two 

 inches ; bill thirteen and a half inches ; color dark. 



SULID.E OR GANNET FAMILY. This Family comprises 

 swimming birds which have the bill rather long, straight, 

 strong, compressed, and tapering to the point, which is a 

 little decurved, and the nostrils hardly perceptible. The 

 wings are very long, tail long and cuneate. 



The Genus Sula is the only one in North America. 



The Common Gannet, 5. bassana, Briss., of Labrador 

 to the Gulf of Mexico, is thirty-eight inches long, and the 

 wing nineteen and a half inches; general color white. 

 It feeds upon fish, and obtains them by plunging from 

 a height, often remaining under water for a minute or 

 more. This species breeds in immense numbers on the 

 rocky islands near the coast of Labrador. 



The Booby Gannet, 5. fiber, Linn., of the Southern 

 coast of the United States, is thirty-one inches long, and 

 the wing sixteen and a half inches ; brown above ; white 

 below ; throat yellow. 



TACHYPETID^E, OR MAN-OF-WAR BIRD FAMILY. This 

 Family is characterized by a very long, strong, acute, 

 hooked bill, and hardly perceptible nostrils. The wings 

 are exceedingly long, and the tail long and much forked. 



The Genus Tachypetes is represented by the Man-of- 

 War Bird, or Frigate Pelican, T. aquila, Vieill., of Florida 

 to California, which is forty-one inches in total length, 



