PELECANID,tE. 



641 



with the Birds of Prey, Owls, Parrots, and several other Picarian 

 families, to which their relationship appears to be very remote. Nitzsch 

 remarks that they have a very persistent type of pterylosis. The posterior 

 margin of the sternum varies considerably in its shape, in some cases being 

 only slightly undulated and in others having one and occasionally two 

 notches on each side. 



The Pelicans are born naked, but are soon covered with down. They 

 remain in the nest and are fed by their parents until they can fly. They 

 retain their first plumage until their second autumn *, moulting regularly 

 at that season afterwards. In winter, before they pair, a further change 

 takes place ; probably no feathers are moulted, but in many species a crest 

 is assumed, and other feathers or ornamental filaments appear, which are 

 gradually lost by abrasion during spring and summer. 



The most obvious external character of the Pelicans is their webbed 

 feet. They are the only group of birds in which the hind toe is connected 

 with the inner toe by a web. They have invariably long and powerful 

 wings, but the length of the tail and the formation of the bill varies 

 much. Their tarsi are covered with small reticulated scales. 



The family may be regarded as almost cosmopolitan, but it is not repre- 

 sented in the Arctic regions. It contains about sixty species, of which 

 six breed in Europe, but only three in the British Islands. 



* Cormorants in immature plumage may be obtained through the winter and spring, 

 and in July and August they may be obtained in full moult from immature to adult 

 plumage, when they are rather more than a year old. The same remarks apply to the 

 Gannets, except that they moult into a partially adult plumage, the fully adult plumage 

 not being assumed until the fifth year. 



