I 
The Hifiory cj ANIMALS, 439 
The wings in this fpecies are remarkably fhort, fo that it feldom rifes into the air, 
but it is continually ikimming along the furface of the water, by their help* with great 
rapidity. 
It is frequent in many parts of Europe, and almoft all the writers on birds have 
defcribed it. Gefner calls it Anas longirodra, the long-beaked Duck, a name which 
many others have copied; Aldrovand, Anas longirodra Gefneri; Willughby, Mergus 
cirratus fufcus ; others have called it Merganfer minor, and Mergus cirratus minor. 
Mergus capite grifeo, crifta dejlituto . 
The Mergus , with a grey head, without any crejt . 
This is a very lingular fpecies, and is not only much fmaller, but, in many other 
efiential circumdances, different from the others: the head is large, and flatted on the 
crown; but this is the lefs confpicuous, as the feathers ftand very loofe on it: the eyes 
are large, and very bright and piercing in their afpedt: the beak is not long, as in the 
others, but fhort and (mail; but it is of the fame general figure as in thofe, rounded or 
convex, and draight all the way to the point, where it is hooked : the upper part of 
the head is black; the back of the neck alfo is black, and the whole back of the bird 
is alfo black, but of a lefs gloffy and fhining hue : the wings alfo are black, but have a 
broad, tranfverfe line of white on them, formed of the covering feathers, which are 
white, all the long ones being of a deep black. It is Angular to this fpecies, that it 
has no cred on the head, nor indeed the leafl approach toward any thing of that 
kind s the throat, or anterior part of the neck, as alfo the bread, are perfectly white; 
and the fides of the rump are alfo white : the tail is fhort and brown : the legs are 
fhort, and of a dufky olive colour, with a very, ftrong tinge of the green, and the 
feet are webbed. 
This is frequent about the fea-coafls, in almoft all parts of Europe, and has been 
defcribed by mod of the writers on this fubjedt. Ray and Willughby call it Mergus 
Melanoleucos rodro acuto brevi. 
The other known fpecies of the Mergus are, x. The larger, brown Mergus, with a 
fpotted back and greenifh legs. 2. The larger, deep-brown Mergus, with a longer 
cred. 3. The lefier, olive-coloured Mergus, with a very long beak. 4. The leder, 
dark-brown Mergus, variegated with black and white, and with a fhorter beak. 
PELICANUS. 
np H E beak of the Pelicanus is very long, and is crooked and unguiculated at the 
extremity: the fides of it are not denticulated, and the anterior part\\of the 
head, toward the throat, is naked. 
Pelicanus gula faccata . 
The Pelicanus, with a bag at the throat . 
This is a very large and an extreamly Angular bird : the head is moderately large 5 
the eyes are large, and their iris is of a dufky grey, with a flight tinge of yellow : the 
beak is enormoudy large and long, and is of a drangely Angular flgure and drudture; 
it is near a foot in length, and toward the bafe is of the thicknels of a man’s wrid s 
it is in this part of a dufky lead colour, but with a faint tinge of yellow, efpecially to¬ 
ward the fides, and it is alfo yellowifh again at the tip: the upper chap is broad and 
depreded; the under chap is formed of two horny ribs, feparate at their bafe, and 
joined at their extremity, and connected by a thick membrane of a yellowifh colour, 
which is continued not only all along the beak, but beyond it’s bafe, do®m to the 
throat: there is a tubercle at the bafe of the beak, but it’s extremity is pointed, and 
fomewhat hooked: the nodrils are fmall, and of a roundifh figure, "and are Atuated 
near the bafe of the beak, jufl under the plumage which inveds it. 
* 
The 
