FEEGA^A.— PELECANUS. 141, 



A breeding-place which Salvin 12 visited in April, 1862, was situated on Man-o'-War 

 Cay off the coast of British Honduras. As he approached, the birds flew off in a large 

 flock and hovered above him after the manner of Kooks when their homes are 

 disturbed. The nests were placed on the tallest mangroves, so that he had to climb 

 for the few rotten eggs which he managed to secure. On ascending a tree he was 

 able to view the whole colony of nests containing young birds in every stage of growth. 

 Where there were unhatched eggs he had the greatest difficulty in getting the old bird 

 to move, from which he inferred that they did not like to expose them in their open 

 nests to the heat of the tropical sun. A very interesting account of the nesting of the 

 Frigate-bird on Bird Island in Fonseca Bay on the Pacific coast of Honduras is given 

 by Mr. George Cavendish Taylor ^^ ; he describes the nest as consisting of a frail 

 platform of crossed sticks, hardly so large as that of our English Wood-Pigeon, on 

 which only one chalky-white egg is laid, 



Fam. PELECANID^a;. 



The Pelicans are a very distinct family of birds, distributed throughout the 

 temperate and tropical regions of both Hemispheres. Mr. Pycraft's osteological 

 characters for the separation of the Pelecanidae from the rest of the Steganopodes are 

 few in number, as the external form is so peculiar that but little description is 

 necessary. The palatines are fused in the middle line and are provided with a deep 

 median keel ; furcula fused with the carina sterni, which is about three-quarters of the 

 length of the corpus sterni. Among the external characters which distinguish 

 this family from all others may be mentioned the long flat bill with its hooked nail 

 at the end, and the large pouch or bag suspended between the rami of the lower jaw 

 and capable of very considerable dilation. The wings are of great size and strength, 

 and, according to Mr. Ogilvie Grant (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 460), the tail- 

 feathers vary from twenty-two to twenty-four in number. The tarsi are bare, very 

 much compressed and reticulated. Eleven species of Pelicans have been described, 

 of which two at least may be accounted inhabitants of Central America. 



PELECANUS. 



Pelecanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 215 (1766) ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 460 

 (1898). 



The characters specified above as those of the family apply equally to the single 

 genus Pelecanus, and need not be further discussed. 



Of the two Central-American species, P. erythrorhynchus, with its curious knob on 

 the bill in the breeding-season, is quite distinct ; but of P. fuscus, two races — an 

 eastern and a western — are now recognized by American naturalists. In our opinibn, 

 however, the evidence on this point seems to be by no means conclusive, and we have 

 deemed it better to unite them. 



