CHAPTER XIV. 



PELICANS AMI THEIR RELATIVES. 



(Steganopodes.) 



E have three forms of Pelicans (Pelecanidw) in the avi- 

 fauna of this country. These are the American White 

 Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorliyiwhus), the Brown Peli- 

 can (P. fuscus), and the California brown pelican (P. 

 calif ornicus). The White pelican has been found in the interior 

 as high north as Latitude 01°, and ranges south into Central 

 America. Plenty of them are found in suitable localities in the 

 valley of the Mississippi, along the Gulf coast, on the coast of 

 California, and southward. In the northeastern States they are 

 now only found as rare stragglers. Brown pelicans are Atlantic 

 coast birds, and occur plentifully in the Bahamas and the West 

 Indies. They rarely come north ofNorth Carolina, and they range 

 southward along the Mexican and Central American coast lines. 

 In a few instances they have been found in the interior (Illinois). 

 I am not familiar with the California brown pelican, but it is a 

 form said by its describers to be found on the Pacific coast from 

 the latitude of San Francisco southward. 



As the name indicates, the plumage of the American white 

 pelican is principally white, but the primaries of the wings are 

 black. Sometimes the tail feathers are tinged with rose, and the 

 lengthened feathers of the back of the head and the breast are a 

 fine straw yellow. Its bill and feet are also generally of this 

 color. This bird is remarkable for the peculiar triangular horny 

 excrescence which is developed on the upper side of the bill of 

 the male during the breeding season, and which after that time 

 falls off without leaving a trace of its ever having existed there. 

 This species lays two or three eggs. The brown pelican, of which 

 I give a figure, has a dark plumage that is considerably varie- 

 gated. Most of the head is white, shaded with yellow on the 

 crown; the former color bordered with dark chestnut, runs down 

 the neck. The wings are mostly blackish and the tail is gray. 

 Above, the body is dusky, becoming gray on the wing coverts, 

 while below it is inclined to be more brown, with lateral white 

 stripes. A mixture of yellow, blackish, and chestnut feathers 

 are found on the forepart of the neck, low down towards the 



