96 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, 
toes in the same plane, all connected by reticulated webs, the first 
shortest, the second an inch shorter than the fourth, which is consider- 
ably longer than the third, scaly at the base, scutellate over the rest 
of their extent. Claws short, strong, curved, rather blunt, that of 
the middle toe with a sharp pectinate inner edge. 
Feathers of the head and neck exceedingly small, slender, and of a 
downy texture, those on 'the fore part of the head a little more com- 
pact; on the nape they are elongated, acuminate, and form a longi- 
tudinal narrow crest, which runs down the back of the neck. The fea- 
thers in general are lanceolate, acuminate, and of moderately dense 
texture ; those at the junction of the neck and breast anteriorly are 
stiffer and more elongated. Wings very long, rather narrow, rounded ; 
the humerus and cubitus very long in proportion; primaries much 
curved ; secondaries rather narrow, also incurved toward the end, the 
inner extending when the wing is closed far beyond the tips of the pri- 
maries. Tail short, broad, rounded, of twenty-four feathers, which are 
broad and abruptly acuminate. 
Bill bare, space about the eye, and feet, rich bright yellow, becom- 
ing brighter before their departure for their breeding grounds; claws 
yellowish-brewn ; tip of the bill brighter than the rest. Iris white, in 
younger birds dusky. The general colour of the plumage is pure white ; 
the crest, the elongated feathers on the fore part of the breast, and 
those near the edge of the cubitus, pale yellow. The alula, primary 
coverts, and primary quills, black, the shafts white, becoming brownish- 
black, toward the end. The inner ten secondaries are white, the rest 
black, more or less tipped with greyish-white, their bases white, that 
colour more extended on the inner than the outer, the shafts of all the 
quills white beneath, those of the secondaries tinged with grey. 
Dimensions of an old male. Length to end of tail 612 inches, to 
end of wing 612, to end of claws 663, from the point of the bill to 
the carpal joint 40; extent of wings 103; wing from flexure 243; 
length of cubitus 15; tail 61; bill along the ridge 133, along the edge 
of lower mandible 15; breadth of lower mandible at the base 2; bare 
part of tibia 1; tarsus 4;%; middle toe 44, its claw 3; outer toe 43, 
its claw 3%; inner toe 3, its claw ;4; hind toe 12, its claw 4. Weight 
173 |b. 
The female is rather less, and in as far as I am warranted by the 
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