164 AVES. 



PHALACROCORAX, Brisson. 



The Cormorants* have an elongated and compressed beak, the end of the 

 upper mandible hooked, and that of the lower one truncated ; the tongue is 

 very small, and the skin of the throat less dilatable ; the nostrils resemble a 

 small unpierced line, and the nail of the middle toe is notched like a saw. 



Pel. carlo, Lin. (The Cormorant.) Blackish-brown, undulated with jet 

 black on the back, and mixed with white near the end of the bill and front of 

 the neck ; circumference of the throat and the cheeks, white, in the male, 

 which also has a tuft on the occiput. Its size is that of the goose. It breeds 

 in holes among the rocks or upon trees, and lays three or four eggs. 



TACHYPETES, VieiUot. 



The Frigate Birds differ from the cormorants in their forked tail and short 

 feet, the membranes of which are deeply emarginated; in an excessive length 

 of wing, and in a bill both of whose mandibles are curved at the point. So 

 powerful are their wings, that they fly to an immense distance from all land, 

 principally between the tropics, darting upon the flying fish and striking the 

 boobies to make them disgorge their prey. 



One species only is well known, the Pelecanus aquilus, Lin., whose plumage 

 is black, the under part of the throat and neck more or less varied with white, 

 and the bill red. Its wings, when expanded, are said to measure from ten to 

 twelve feet. 



SULA, Brisson. 



The Boobies f have a straight, slightly compressed, pointed bill, the point 

 slightly arcuated; its edges are serrated, the teeth inclining backwards; the 

 nostrils are prolonged by a line which extends to near the point. They are 

 called Boobies on account of the excessive stupidity with which they permit 

 themselves to be attacked by men and birds, the frigate birds particularly ; 

 which, as already stated, force them to yield up the fish they have captured. 

 The most common is 



Pelecanus bassanus, Lin. (The Common Booby.) White; the primary 

 quills of the wings and the feet black ; the bill is about six inches long, nearly 

 straight, of a beautiful bluish-grey when alive ; they are found from the Tagus 

 to the Gulf of Bothnia ; great numbers of them are found on the Bass Rock 

 in the Frith of Forth. 



PLOTUS, Linnceus^.. 



The Darters have the body and feet very similar to those of a cormorant ; 

 a long neck and small head, with a straight, slender, pointed beak, whose edges 



Cormorant, from Cormoran, a corruption of Corbeau marin, on account of its black 

 colour. It is, in fact, the Aquatic Crow of Aristotle. Phalacrocorax (Bald Crow) is 

 the Greek name of this bird, indicated by Pliny, but is not employed by Aristotle. 



f- Sula is the name of the common species at the Feroe Islands. 



J Plotus, or plant us, signifies, in Latin, flat-foot. 



