On Molina's Pelican (Pelecanus tliagus). 403 



On this factor, then, of coloration, characteristic of their 

 downy chicks, and on this factor alone — if no others were 

 available — it appears to me that the species of the group of 

 E/inged- Plovers which we have been discussing, stand apart 

 and are worthy of generic consideration. 



" Withont juggling with facts/' we can easily recognise 

 in it a very natural and compact group of Plovers, which is 

 well differentiated in a variety of ways from any other 

 group of true Plovers ; and to lump it with these last — a 

 very heterogeneous collection — seems to me to be not only 

 quite an unscientific procedure but one which is devoid of 

 any practical utility. It is surely a movement backwards 

 towards the dark ages of our ornithological ignorance. 



Finally, I should like to call attention to the much 

 neglected study of the downy nestlings of the whole group 

 of Waders — to say nothing of other groups. From the point 

 of view of the phylogenetic relatiousiiips of the whole 

 suborder of the Limicolse, I am convinced that attention to 

 this branch of study would be of the greatest possible 

 service in reducing order out of what at present can only be 

 called chaos ; and on this point I hope to be able to offer 

 some further observations in the near future. 



XXIII. — Notes on Molina's Pelican (Pelecanus thagus). 

 By Henry O. Forbes, LL.D., M.B.O.U. 



(Plate XIII. ^) 



Having been commissioned by the Peruvian Government to 

 investigate certain questions i-elating to the birds inhabiting 

 the Guano Islands of the Republic, I had opportunities 

 of observing many of the species, chiefly marine, under 

 unusually favourable circumstances, for a period of some 

 eighteen months during 1912 and 1913. These islands 

 extend at intervals along the coast of Peru between 6° 30' 

 and 17° 0' South latitude, and are none of them situated 

 more than a score of miles from the mainland. They are 



* For explauation of the plate see p. 420, 



