AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 27 



cular, and capable of being expanded like a net, supported by the elastic 

 mandibles to the breadth of nine and a half inches. 



Head small, oblong; neck long, stout; body full, rather flattened. Feet 

 short and very stout; tibia bare at its lower part, covered all round with 

 small scales; tarsus short, very 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 second an 

 inch shorter than the fourth, which is considerably 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 compact; on the nape 

 they are elongated, acuminate, and form a longitudinal narrow crest, which 

 runs down the back of the neck. The feathers 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 

 primaries. 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, becoming 

 brighter before their departure for their breeding grounds; claws yellowish- 

 brown; 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 6 If inches, to end of 

 wing 61f, to end of claws 66f, from the point of the bill to the carpal joint 

 40; extent of wings 103; wing from flexure 24|; length of cubitus 15; tail 

 6^; bill along the ridge 13|-, along the edge of lower mandible 15; breadth 

 of lower mandible at the base 2; bare part of tibia 1; tarsus 4 T 8 2-; middle toe 

 4^, its claw |; outer toe 4^, its claw T 6 f ; inner toe 3, its claw &; hind toe 

 If, its claw T %. Weight 17^ lbs. 



The Female is rather less, and in as far as I am warranted by the exami- 



