630 
THE PELICAN. 
to the Pacific coast. The Yiolet-green Cormorant is also a Pacific-coast bird, reaching to 
California south. Its length is twenty-eight inches. A variety called Florida Cormorant 
inhabits the southern frontier. The White-crested, Baird’s, and Bed-faced are enumerated as 
North American birds. 
Another well-known species of this genus is the Crested Cormorant, Green Cor- 
morant, or Shag, a bird which can at once be distinguished from the preceding species by 
the green color of the plumage and the difference in size, the length of an adult male being 
only twenty-seven inches. In habits this species resembles the Common Cormorant. 
PELICAN .— JPelitanus onocrotalus. 
We now arrive at the well-known Pelican, which is universally accepted as the type 
of the family. 
This bird is found spread over many portions of Africa and Asia, and is also found in 
some parts of Southern Europe. It is a sociable bird, assembling in large flocks, and often 
mingling with the flamingoes, its w T hite plumage contrasting finely with the scarlet raiment of 
its long-necked allies. The wings of the Pelican are very long and powerful, and the flight is 
singularly bold and graceful. 
The pouch of the Pelican is enormously large, capable of containing two gallons of water, 
and is employed by the bird as a basket wherein to carry the fish which it has caught. The 
Pelican is a good fisherman, hovering above the water watching for a shoal of fish near the 
surface. Down sweeps the bird, scoops up a number of fish in its capacious pouch, and then 
generally goes off homeward. Sometimes it is interrupted by a large species of hawk, which 
