384 BROWN PELICAN. 



Their bodies are greatly inflated by large air-cells ; their bones, 

 though strong, are very light; and they are tough to kill. 



Pelecanus fuscus, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 215 — Lath. Iiid. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 883. 



Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 401. 



BnowN Pelican, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 476. 



Adult Male. Plate CCLI. 



Bill more than twice the length of the head, rather stout, straight, de- 

 pressed towards the end. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight 

 as far as the unguis, the ridge broad and convex, separated from the side 

 by a groove on each side, broader and more convex at the base, narrowed 

 and flattened towards the unguis, which is curved, stout, convex above, 

 sharp-edged, acute ; sides of the bill perpendicular at the base, narrowed 

 towards the middle, widened and approaching to horizontal towards the 

 end ; edges sharp, with a broad furrowed groove beneath for the recep- 

 tion of those of the lower mandible. Lower mandible with the angle ex- 

 tending to less than half an inch from the tip, and filled by a bare mem- 

 brane, the sides nearly erect and convex, the edges sharp, the tip com- 

 pressed, deflected, obtuse. The membrane of the lower mandible extends 

 down the fore neck in the form of a wrinkled pouch. 



Head of moderate size, oblong ; neck long, stout ; body rather slender. 

 Feet short, stout, nearly central ; tibia bare at its lower part, covered all 

 round with small scales ; tarsus short, stout, compressed, covered all 

 round with hexagonal scales, of which the anterior are much larger ; toes 

 in the same plane, all connected by reticulated webs, the first shortest, 

 the third and fourth nearly equal, reticulate at the base, scutellate along 

 the rest of the upper surface, claws short, strong, curved, rather acute, 

 that of hind toe with a sharp pectinate inner edge. 



Feathers of the head and neck exceedingly small and slender, of the 

 fore part of the head stiff, hair-like and glossy ; of the upper middle part 

 of the neck behind a little larger and soft, forming a slight longitudinal 

 crest ; of the sides and hind part of the neck soft and downy. The 

 feathers of the upper parts in general are remarkably small, narrow, 

 tapering to a point ; of the lower part of the neck stiff" and pointed, of 

 the breast and sides somewhat larger than those above, and softer. Wings 

 long, rounded ; primaries much curved, with strong square shafts ; the 

 second longest, the third very little shorter, the first a little longer than 



