404 Dr. H. 0. Forbes : Notes on 



all absolutely desert, and devoid of human inhabitants 

 except at the guano - collecting season. Of the birds 

 frequenting them the most important from an economic 

 point of view are Molina's Pelican, Bougainville's Cormorant 

 [Phalacrocorax bougainviUii), and two species of Gannet 

 [Sula variegata and ;S'. nebouxii). Their numbers are 

 almost incredible, and these four species together cannot 

 fall far, if any, short of one hundred millions. Each bird 

 consumes at least ten pounds of fish daily, that is, they 

 wrest from the sea a daily harvest of close on half a million 

 tons of various kinds of its piscine inhabitants. 



In studying Molina^s Pelican — whose range is confined 

 to the Pacific Coast of South America from about 3° 30' to 

 37° 0' S. lat. — I was at first much perplexed by the great 

 variation presented by the colours of the irides, of the soft 

 parts, and of the plumage of the neck and body. I could find 

 little or no information in the various works I consulted to 

 guide me in deciding whether these difi'erentiy marked birds 

 belonged to separate species or were only seasonal changes 

 of the same species, and if the latter, in what order the 

 various garbs succeeded each other and at what ages they 

 were assumed. Under these circumstances, therefore, I 

 have thought it may prove useful to place on record the 

 following notes, recorded in the flesh, of the soft or fadable 

 parts in the specimens J obtained. 



The numbers which preface each record are those attached 

 to the individual specimens in my collection, and the obser- 

 vations are copied from my daily journal written at the 

 time. These specimens are all either in the British Museum 

 (Natural History) or the Zoological Museum at Tring. I am 

 still unable to make up my mind what is the exact plumage 

 sequence, or how long each dress is retained; but with the 

 assistance of the present notes, which refer to specimens col- 

 lected in every month of the year except July and November, 

 other ornithologists in Peru, who have the opportunity, 

 especially my late private secretary and energetic assistant, 

 who has now been appointed Warden of the islands, Seiior 

 Don Herbert Tweddle, may, I hope, be induced to make and 

 publish further observations on the subject. 



