70 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



are generally no basipterygoid processes, but rudiments have been recorded ; the 

 nasal hinge is present but imperfect ; the lachrymal is large and fused with frontal. 

 The cervical vertebrae are seventeen in number, the dorsal heteroccelous ; the sternum 

 is similarly shaped, but the f urcula is anchylosed to the keel . There is only one carotid 

 artery, the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial and there are no intrinsic muscles, the bronchi - 

 desmus complete. The leg muscle formula is AX , and the biceps slip is absent. 

 The oil gland is tufted with twelve orifices, the aftershaft apparently lacking and 

 the wing aquincubital. The pterylosis is not known to offer any peculiarity, the 

 young hatched naked and soon covered with thick down. 



FAMILY PELECANILXE. 



Not many genera have been separated and practically only one has been 

 commonly recognised, but the Australian species should be generically differentiated, 

 as it alone out of all the species in the world has the lores feathered. Other features 

 of importance are mentioned in the generic definition below. 



Genus CATOPTROPELICANUS. 



Catoptropelicanua Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. vn., 1852 (?1853). Type (by original 

 designation) : C. perapiciUatua = P. conapicillatua Temminck et Laugier. 



Large Pelecanine birds, characterised by their feathered lores. All other members 

 of the family have the lores naked. 



The family is diagnosed by the huge bill with broad flattened upper mandible 

 and immense gular pouch ; the birds are very large, heavily built, with Jong wings, 

 medium neck, short tail, and short stout legs and feet. The bill is very long, broad 

 and flattened ; the culminicorn consists of a flattened portion, continuous with the 

 small sharply-hooked nail ; the laterals are cleanly divided by a narrow groove, at 

 the base of the culmen almost concealing the linear nostrils ; the laterals broaden 

 and flatten past the middle ; the rami of the lower mandible are vertical, thick and 

 strong at the base, where they extend beyond the upper mandible edges, but becoming 

 slender about the middle, where they are overlapped by the upper edges ; the nail 

 is short and hooked ; the interramal region develops a huge distensible naked 

 pouch. The culmen is about two-thirds the length of the wing. The lores are 

 feathered, but the eyes are surrounded by a bare patch : a breeding crest is assumed. 

 The wings are long, the third primary longest, the fourth longer than the second, 

 the first about equal to the fifth ; the wing-coverts long and lanceolate. The tail is 

 short, wedge shaped, composed of twenty-two feathers, and is less than half the 

 length of the culmen. The legs are short and stout, reticulate throughout, but the 

 scales smaller on the back ; the metatarsus is more than half the length of the tail 

 but less than one-third the length of the culmen. The toes are long, scutellate, the 

 hind -toe long, the middle toe longest, all connected by webs. 



52. Catoptropelicanus conspicillatus. PELICAN. 



Gould, Vol. VII., p. 74 (pt. xxrx.), Dec. 1st, 1847. Mathews, Vol. IV., pt. 3, pi. 233, June 

 23rd, 1915. 



Pelecanus conspicittatus Temminck et Laugier, Planch. Color. d'Ois., 47 e livr. (Vol. III., pi. 



276), (Vol. V., pi. 118), June 26th, 1824 : New South Wales. 



Pelecanus australis Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. i., p. 113, Feb. 18th, 1826 : 



New South Wales. 



Catoptropelicanua perapicillatua Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. vii., 1852 (? 1853): New 



South Wales. 



Pelecanus conspicittatus westralis Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 244, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 



Perth, West Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally. Not Tasmania. 



