MAN-O’-WAR BIRDS. 
43 
mandible with upright horn. Post-breeding plumage: crest replaced by 
short grayish feathers, upper mandible without horny excrescence. Adults 
in winter plumage: back of head white; bill pouch and feet pale yellow 
instead of orange. Young: white, with gray on top of bead and lesser 
wing coverts. Length: to nearly 6 feet; extent 8£ to nearly 10 feet; 
wing 20.00-25.25, bill 11.05-15.00; weight about 17 lbs. 
Distribution. — North America from latitude 61° to Guatemala. 
Nest. — Usually on islands, sometimes a depression in gravel or sand, 
lined with seaweeds ; but generally a thin layer of sticks and weeds, laid 
on the ground or on rocks. Eggs: 1 to 3, dull white, like those of the 
Canada goose, but with rougher shell. 
The white pelican is more a bird of the interior than of the coast 
districts, and still breeds in great colonies on a few of the larger 
lakes. Some of the little islands which used to be covered with 
nests are abandoned now, the splendid birds having been driven 
away by wanton persecution. 
The pelicans are eminently social at all seasons, sometimes gather¬ 
ing in flocks of many hundreds along the shore, where, by beating 
the water with their wings, they drive the fish into the shallows, to 
scoop them up with their wide pouches. At other times they may 
be seen circling, wheeling, and soaring overhead, in magnificent aerial 
drill, or riding buoyantly on the surface of the water like a squadron 
of white ships. Vernon Bailey. 
Subgenus Leptopelicanus. 
127. Pelecanus californicus Ridgw. California Brown Peli¬ 
can. 1 
Tail feathers 22. Breeding plumage : pouch reddish ; head, and feathers 
next to pouch, white ; crown tinged with yellow ; neck, including mane¬ 
like crest, rich velvety brown ; upper parts silvery gray, streaked with 
brownish ; under parts brownish, streaked on sides with white. Winter 
plumage : head and neck white, tinged with yellowish on throat and crown. 
Young: upper parts grayish brown, darker on back; under parts white, 
tinged on sides with brownish. Length: 41 feet or more, wing 20.50-23.25, 
bill 12.25-14.75. 
Distribution. — Pacific coast from southern British Columbia to Gala¬ 
pagos Islands. 
FAMILY FREGATIDiE: MAN-O’-WAR BIRDS. 
GENUS PREGATA. 
128. Fregata aquila Linn. Man-o’-War Bird. 
Wings very long; tail deeply forked; feet small, half webbed. Adult 
male : plumage black, base of wings glossed 
with greenish or purplish. Adult female : 
i _ . plumage dull black; wings with grayish 
fj C ^ patch; sides and breast white. Young: 
head, neck, and under parts white; upper 
parts dull brownish black. Length : 37.50- 
41.00, wing 22.00-27.10, tail 14.25-19.25, 
Fig- 60- forked for about 9 ; bill 4.25-5.15. 
A specimen of P. occidentalis was taken in Wyoming, July, 1899. {The Auk , xvi. 351.) 
