399 
of the United States . 
species hardly ever walk or swim. Excel in flight, some spe- 
cies flying continually day and night for several days, without 
resting. Feed chiefly on fishes : voracious : great consumers. 
Breed on trees or rocks, very few on the ground : eggs few : 
both sexes incubate, nurse, and feed by regurgitation, the 
young, which only leave the nest when full-fledged. Flesh 
black, oily, bad tasted. Some species may be trained to fish 
for man. 
Traced in all latitudes and longitudes. More closely re- 
lated to the Longipennes, than to any other Family : ought 
siot to be separated from them by the Lamellosodentati, nor 
ought they to separate these from the Pygopodes. 
A. Bill seamed above. 
76. PELECANUS. 
Pelecanus , L. Gm. Lath. III. Cuv . Temm. Vieill. Ranz. 
Onocrotalus , Briss. Scopoli . 
Bill very long, broad, stout, straight, much depressed ; 
upper mandible convex at base, then plane, seamed on each 
side, ridge distinct, ending in a compressed, robust, and 
strongly hooked nail ; lower broader, formed of two flexible 
cartilaginous branches united at tip, supporting a naked 
membrane, capable of forming by distention a pouch of great 
size, extending beyond the throat ; edges of the upper man- 
dible plane internally, separated from the palate by two lon- 
gitudinal, approximated, sharp processes, palate carinated ; 
lower edges sharp : nostrils in the furrow, basal, linear, lon- 
gitudinal, hardly distinguishable : tongue cartilaginous, very 
small, obtuse and arcuated at tip. Head moderate, face and 
cheeks naked ; eyes rather large ; neck long, stoutish : body 
massive. Feet nearly central, short, robust; tibia naked 
below ; tarsi shorter than the second toe, stout, naked ; 
middle toe longest, one third longer than the outer ; hind toe 
shortest, hardly half as long as the middle one ; connecting 
