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ne Pelican of America. 
T H E Body of this Bird (as it appeared to me when fluffed and dried) was fomething 
bigger than that of a large tame Goofe ; from the Point of the Bill to the Angles of the 
Mouth it meafured 13 Inches ; the Wing when clofed meafured 18 Inches. I take this Bird to 
fall fhort of half the (^lantity or Bulk of the lafl defcribed, this appearing to me lefs than a 
Swan, and that manifeftly more than double its Bulk. 
The upper Mandible of the Bill is narrower in the Middle than it is at either End, and is re¬ 
ceived into the lower, except towards the Point, v/hich widens and receives the lower into it; 
the Bill is Red toward the Point, both upper and under Parts, and Yellow next the Head •, the 
Eye is placed in a Space which has no Feathers, of a Brown-colour, which I imagine might be 
Flefh-colour when the Bird was living, it being fo in the living Pelican lafl treated of; It hath a 
brown Hook at the Point of the upper Bill, which is received into a Cavity in the under, as ex- 
preffed in the Figure ; the Noftrils are not vifible. The Pouch, when dry, appeared of the Con- 
fiflence and Colour of a blown dry Ox’s Bladder, having Fibres running its whole Length, and 
Blood-veffels croffmg them, which proceeded from the Sides of the lower Part of the Bill, 
which opened into this Pouch its whole L.ength ; the whole Head and Neck were covered with 
white Feathers, thofe on the hind Part of the Head hanging a little longer than the others ; the 
White in the hind Part of the Neck ended in a Peak almoft in the Middle of the Back; the Back 
is covered with fmall Feathers, which are White down their Shafts, and of a dusky-black Ada- 
colour on their Sides, all ending in Points : The Tail is afla-colour’d, of a middling Shade •, the 
great Feathers or Quills of the Wings are Black ; the covert Feathers next above them are afh- 
coloured, both on the upper and under Sides of the Wings ; the lefler Coverts ot the Wings, 
both on the upper and under Sides, are White in their Middles, and edged with Afh-colour on 
their Sides, as on the Back, and fomething pointed *, the Quills within Side are of a dirty Afli- 
colour ; The greater Bone of the Wing being broken, I found it to be very light, hollow, quite 
void of Marrow, and the Sides of it as thin as Parchment: The Breafl, Belly, Sides under the 
Wings, that is the whole under Side, is of a dark Afh-colour, approaching to Black, without 
the Mixture of any lighter Colour : The Legs are fhort; it hath four Toes, all webb’d together 
as in the former ; the middle, or longeft Toe, longer than the Leg; both Legs and Feet are of 
a dirty yellow Greenifh-colour ; the Claws dusky. 
This Bird was brought from the Wefi-Indies, and prefented to me by my honour’d Friend,' 
James fheohald, Efq. Tho’ this Bird, and the lafl defcribed, agree pretty well in Figure and Pro¬ 
portion, yet they differ vaflly in Magnitude, and in Colour ; the firfl may not very improperly 
be called a white Bird ; this muff be called a dark Grey, with a white Head ; and, if we con- 
fider the Diflance of their Habitations, I think all thefe Circumflances feem to favour an Opinion 
of their being fpecifically different from each other. For farther Satisfadlion I fhall add what Sir 
Hans Sloane hiLS obferved of this Bird, fee his Natural Hiftory of ^■ 3 XC\i\Q 2 ., Vol. II. Pag. 322. 
This feems to be the fame with the Pnoite Pelican, only of a darker Colour ; they are frequent 
“ in all the Seas of the hot Weji-Indies ; they fifh after the fame Manner as Man-of-lVar Birds, 
“ and come into the fheltered Bays in flormy Weather, where they very often perch on Trees ; 
“ they fly over the Sea as Gulls, and take the Fifli when they fpy them, by falling down upon 
them, and they then rife again and do the like : They are not reckon’d good Food. When 
“ they are feen at Sea it is a Sign of being near Land.”— Wafer, in his Voyage and Defcription 
of the Iflhmus of America, fays, “ The Pelican is not found on the South-Sea Side of the Ifth- 
“ mus, but they abound in the Wefi-Indies, on the Northern Side ; that they are of a dark Grey- 
“ colour, and under the Throat hangs a Bag ; that the old Ones are not eaten, but when young 
“ they are good Meat.” More is added by Wafer, which the Curious may examine in the fore- 
mention’d Voyage, Pag. 119 and 120. A great Number of other Voyagers feem to have men¬ 
tioned this Bird by various Names, but I find no Figure of him in any of them, nor fo full a 
Defcription as the above ; fo that I hope my Labour will not be efteemed lofl. 
The two Sorts of Corals which decorate the ground Work of the Plate, are defigned from 
Nature, the greater Brown, the lefler Red. 
M Phe 
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