130 DALMATIAN PELICAN. 



PALMIPEDES. 



Famihj PELECANIDM. f Bonaparte.) 



Genus Pelecanus. (Linnoeus.J 



Generic Characters. — Beak long, straight, thick, and much depressed ; upper 

 mandible flattened, terminated by a strong nail or hook; inferior mandible 

 formed by two bony branches, depressed, flexible, united at the tip; from 

 these two branches depends a large fold of skin in the form of a pouch. 

 Face and throat naked; nostrils basal, opening longitudinally; legs strong, 

 short; three toes in front and one behind, the latter articulated internally, 

 but on the same plane as the others, all united by a membrane; claw of 

 middle toe without denticulations. Wings medium size; the first primary 

 shorter than the second, which is the longest; greater wing coverts and 

 secondary quills, nearest the body, as long as the primaries. 



DALMATIAN PELICAN. 



Pelecanus crispus. 



Pelecanus crispus, Bruch ; Isis, 1832. 



" onocratulus, var. orientalis, • LiNN^us. 



Pelecanus onocratulus, Pallas. 



Pelican /rise, Of the French. 



Riesen-Pelikan, Of the Germans. 



Specific Characters. — A small reddish naked space round the eyes, which 

 space is narrow at the base of the beak, where the frontal feathers form a 

 double festoon. Tarsi short; feet blackish. Plumage generally argentine 

 white. Length six feet; from carpal joint to tip of wing twenty-five inches; 

 beak from forehead fourteen inches and three tenths; beak from rictus 

 fifteen inches and three tenths; naked space about the eyes two inches by 

 one inch and three tenths; tarsus three inches and a half; middle toe and 

 claw five inches and a half. 



