1869.] | MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PELECANUS. 589 
Pelecanus onocrotalus, Bon. Syn. (1828) no. 351; Nutt. Man. 
vol. ii. (1834) p. 471; Swains. Faun. Bor.-Am. vol. ii, p- 472 
1831). 
Pe _ermeipill Aud. Orn. Biog. vol. iv. (1838) p. 88; id. Syn. 
1839; id. Birds Amer. vol. vii. p. 20, pl. 422. 
P. brachydactylus, Licht.? (ubi?). 
P. trachyrhynchus, Reich. Syst. Av. vol. i. t. 38. figs. 881, 
882. 
P. onocrotalus, Penn. Arct. Zool. vol. ii. p. 306. sp. 505. 
P. erythrorhynchus, Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas, 4™° livr, poidae 
P. trachyrhynchus, Sclat. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1868) p. 269. 
P. erythrorhynchus, Donnd. Ornith. Beitr. vol. ii. pt. 1, p. 850. 
sp. 15. 
Adult male.—General colour of plumage pure white; the crest 
upon the nape, most elongated during the breeding-season, at other 
periods of the year but little of it remaining, pale yellowish, as are 
also the elongated feathers upon the fore part of the breast. Pri- 
maries black, with white shafts, becoming blackish towards the 
end. Inner secondaries white, remainder black, with their bases 
white. A thin crest upon the upper mandible, in the breeding- 
season, about halfway from the point. Bill, space about the eye, 
gular sac, and feet bright yellow. 
Bare space between the eye and the bill not extending behind the 
eye. Feathers of the throat extending for about two inches upon 
the sides of the lower mandible, dividing the gular sac from the bare 
ocular space; differing in this respect from all the other species of 
this genus. Feathers of the forehead slightly pointed at the culmen, 
but not forming so well defined an angle as in onocrotalus and 
others of that group. Tail of 24 feathers. Gular sac extending in 
a decidedly curved line down the throat for about 8 inches. 
Length 60 inches; wing, from carpal joint, 23 inches; tail 
6 inches ; bill, along culmen, 14 inches; tarsus 4} inches ; middle 
toe 47 inches. 
Female rather less in dimensions, and destitute of the horny crest 
on the upper mandible. 
Hab. North America. 
This Pelican is only found in the New World, but has been fre- 
quently confounded by authors with the P. onocrotalus of Europe, 
to which, indeed, it bears a very close resemblance in general appear- 
ance, but presents characters to the investigator sufficient to cause 
its separation into a distinct species. The horny crest on the upper 
mandible is peculiar to the male only, and is assumed at the breed- 
ing-season, after which period it falls off, leaving no evidence of its 
former existence. Mr. Ridgeway, during an excursion to Pyra- 
mid Lake, in Nevada, found these birds breeding on an island in 
the lake; and before they left, the shores of the island were covered 
with the horny crests which had fallen from the mandibles of the 
males. They seem to cast them somewhat as deer do their horns. 
The present species is pretty generally distributed throughout North 
America, rather rare, however, on the Atlantic coast of the northern 
