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FAMILY XLI. — PELECANINiE. PELICANS. 
Bill longer than the head, rather slender, straight, upper mandible with 
the ridge separated from the side by a groove, and terminated by a narrow, 
generally decurved, pointed unguis ; lower mandible with the crura elastic 
and extensile, the angle very long and narrow. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, 
small, or obsolete. Space around and before the eye generally bare, as is a 
portion of the gular sac. Head generally of moderate size, but various ; neck 
long ; body elongated, rather slender. Feet short and stout : tibia bare at its 
lower parts ; tarsus short, very stout, compressed, scaly or scutellate in front ; 
toes four, all connected by webs, and scutellate ; first small, fourth longest. 
Claws short, strong, curved, rather blunt, that of the third toe generally 
pectinate. Plumage soft, blended, on the back compact and imbricated. 
Wings long ; tail of moderate length, narrow, rounded or tapering. Tongue 
extremely small, triangular, fleshy ; oesophagus excessively wide ; a gular sac, 
sometimes of enormous capacity ; proventricular belt generally discontinuous : 
stomach very small, slightly muscular, epithelium smooth ; a globular pyloric 
lobe ; intestine very long and slender ; coeca small, cylindrical ; cloaca 
globular. Trachea simple, flattened ; no inferior laryngeal muscles. 
Genus I.— PHALACRO CORAX, Briss. CORMORANT. 
Bill about the length of the head, rather slender, nearly straight, com- 
pressed toward the end ; upper mandible with the dorsal line concave, until 
on the unguis, where it is decurved, the ridge convex, flattened toward the 
end, separated from the sides by a narrow groove, the sides convex, the edge 
sharp and nearly straight as far as the unguis, which is decurved, convex 
above, acute, its tip ascending far beyond that of the lower ; lower mandible 
with the angle long and very narrow towards the end, filled up by an 
extensile membrane, which extends to the level of the angle of the mouth ; 
the outline of the crura very slightly convex, that of the terminal part 
descending and very slightly convex, the sides convex, the edges sharp and 
inflected, the tip compressed, with its marginal outline decurved. Nostrils 
obliterated (in youth open) Head rather small, oblong ; neck long and 
