174 N'EW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



winter: No crest or hom. Bill, potich, eyelids and feet yellow, nearly red 

 in the breeding season; iris white. Young: Brownish on the top of the 

 head, otherwise white. 



The White pelican is a rare straggler on the waters of New York State. 



In colonial days it was more common according to reports, but now, like 



the cranes and swans, it confines its migrations mostly to the Mississippi 



valley and western America. Eleven specimens have been recorded from 



this State: 



Saratoga lake, N. Y. Nov. 1788. Munsell, Annals of Albany, 1:275 



Canarsie bay, L. I. L. I. Hist. Soc. Col. Dutcher, Auk, 10: 270 



Chautauqua lake, N. Y. About i860. A. C. Kibbe 



Lake Champlain, N. Y. Oct. 15, 1862. F. T. Pember 



Cayuga lake, N. Y. Spring 1864. (2). Beal, Am. Nat. i: 323 



Roslyn. L. I. May 11, 1885. S. H. West, Forest and Stream, 24: 328 



Cayuga, N. Y. Early fall 1888. (Foster Parker) N. Y. State collection 



Geneva, N. Y. May 10, 1892. Seen by Truman R. Taylor 



Onondaga lake, N. Y. Fall 1893. W. M. Beaucliamp of Baldwinsville, N. Y. 



Buffalo, N. Y., Niagara river. Oct. 5, 1894. Savage, Auk, 12: 313 



Pelecanus fuscus Linnaeus 



Brown Pelican 



Pelecanus fuscus Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. 1766. 1:215 

 Pelecanus fuscus DeKav. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 294, fig. 226 



A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 126 



jus'cus, Lat., dusky 



Description. Upper parts silvery gray, bordered on back and sides 

 with brownish black; primaries black; under parts blackish, streaked with 

 white; crown and breast spots straw-yellow; back of head and neck and 

 spot on the f oreneck seal-brown ; a white line down each side of the breast ; 

 the pouch and feet blackish; eye space blue; eyelids red; iris white; bill 

 mottled. After the breeding season: Neck and hind head white, tinged 

 with yellow; young similar, but the plumage much duller. 



Length 50-54 inches; extent 78; wing 18.5-2 1 ; tail 7 ; bill 11-12 ; tarsus 

 2.5 ; middle toe and claw 4.5. 



The Brown pelican breeds as far north as South Carolina, and rarely 

 straggles up the coast to Massachusetts and Maine; but the only record 

 which can be attributed to this State is a specimen taken off Sandy Hook, 

 and reported by DeKay, in his Birds of New York, page 294. 



