Part 80

Attagen ariel Gould, in Gray's Genera Birds (1845), 3, 669. Fregata ariel Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 447; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 338, fig. 77 (head); Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 237; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 213; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 40. Fregata minor (not Pelecanus minor Gmelin) Sharpe, Ibis (1888), 204; Grant, Ibis (1896), 128.

Con-pi-sao', Bantayan.

Bantayan (McGregor); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Luzon (Whitehead); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Whitehead). Tropical and subtropical Indian and Pacific Oceans.

"Adult male.--General color black, inclining to sooty black on under parts; feathers of head, upper back, and scapulars elongate and pointed, the former with a dull oil-green gloss, the latter dark metallic-green in freshly molted specimens, but becoming bronze or purple with wear; a large white patch on each flank. Tail composed of 12 feathers. Iris black; naked skin round eye and gular pouch red; bill gray; feet black. Length, about 760; culmen from feathers on forehead, 58 to 89; wing, 487 to 533; tail, 279 to 338; tarsus, 19.

"Adult female.--Head like that of the male, but feathers of the back and scapulars less elongate and of a brownish black color with scarcely a trace of metallic gloss; breast, sides of belly, flanks, and a wide collar round the neck white; lesser and median wing-coverts pale brown, with whitish margins and deep brown shaft-stripes; plumage otherwise like that of the male. Iris red; bill gray; bare skin round the eye and on the throat red, but not so light as that of the male; feet red. Length, about 760; culmen from feathers on forehead, 81 to 91; wing, 510 to 528; tail, 287 to 343; tarsus, 18.

"Male and female immature.--Head and neck white, shading into brown on the chest, breast, sides of belly, lower neck, and upper parts; middle of belly and flanks white. It will thus be seen that the colors of the above parts are just the reverse of those of the adult female, the white parts being dark and vice versa; rest of the plumage much like that of the adult female. Iris black; bill and feet whitish with a shade of blue." (Grant.)

"Not infrequently seen singly or in small flocks, but very difficult to kill." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Family PELECANIDÆ.

Body large and heavy; upper mandible depressed, narrower and higher at base, broader and flattened toward the end, composed of a median bar, continuing the whole length of the bill and terminating in a strongly hooked nail, and of two lateral portions each separated from the median bar by a very narrow groove, in the basal part of which the small nostril opens; lower mandible thin, of two flexible arches supporting a large pouch of naked membrane.

Genus PELECANUS Linnæus, 1758.

Characters same as those given for the Family.

172. PELECANUS PHILIPPENSIS Gmelin.

SPOTTED-BILLED PELICAN.

Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 571; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 471; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 238; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 217; McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 14, pls. 3 & 4; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 40; Dubois, Genera Avium, Pelecanidæ (1907), 3, pl. fig. 4. Pelecanus manillensis Oates, Birds Brit. Burmah (1883), 2, 236; Hume, Nests & Eggs Ind. Bds. Oates ed. (1890), 3, 276.

Pa-ga'-la, Manila.

Luzon (Sonnerat, McGregor, Worcester); Mindanao (Mearns). India and Ceylon, south to Burmah and Malay Peninsula, east to China and Hainan.

"Adult in breeding plumage.--(September to February). General color pure white; forehead, top of head, fairly long crest, cheeks, and neck covered with dense curly, very soft, pure white feathers, with their black bases more or less visible; hind neck, from crest to upper back, covered with soft grayish brown feathers, forming a mane; upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts white, tinged, especially on the lesser wing-coverts, with cream-color; winglet, primaries, and primary-coverts brownish black, with the upper surface of the shafts dark; secondaries grayish brown, paler on the outer web and shading into brownish gray on innermost secondaries; an interscapular line down the middle of upper back; lower back, rump, flanks, under tail-coverts, axillars, and under wing-coverts vinaceous; rest of under parts pure white, chest and upper breast tinged with yellow; tail-feathers ashy, paler toward the tips and with dark shafts. Tail composed of 22 feathers. 'Bill pinkish yellow, the lateral portions of the upper mandible with large bluish black spots; the nail and terminal halves of both mandibles orange-yellow; central portions of sides of lower mandible smeared with bluish black; pouch dull purple, blotched and spotted with bluish black; eyelids and skin round eye orange-yellow; skin in front of eye livid; legs and feet very dark brown; claws yellowish horn; iris stone-white, varying to pale yellow, clouded with brown.' (Oates.) Length, 1,295 to 1,500; culmen, 320 to 368; wing, 558 to 610; tail, 203 to 421; tarsus, 84 to 96. The female is somewhat smaller than the male, but not conspicuously so.

"Adult in non-breeding plumage (March-August).--Plumage similar to that of the young after the first molt.

"Nestling.--Covered with white down; iris dark brown; bill pale plumbeous; legs china-white; pouch pale bluish white. The down on the wings soon turns to pale rufous; and the scapulars, when they appear, are brown, edged with ferruginous; the wing-coverts, on making their appearance, are furnished with a dense fringe of rufous down, which, however, soon falls off, leaving the feathers with rufous margins; the scapulars are developed very rapidly, and their ferruginous margins are diminished in extent as the bird grows; the down on the head and neck gives place to brownish feathers, and the crest and loose feathers of the mane on the hind neck soon make their appearance.

"The young bird, when fully fledged, retains its first feathers for at least one year, the only change being that the brown colors become darker and the rufous edgings abraded and consequently less marked. The impressed spots on the bill are not indicated till the sixth month, and even at the end of twelve months these spots are quite indistinct, compared with those of the adult bird. Toward the end of the first year a livid spot appears in front of the eyes and soon becomes clearly defined. The nail and the terminal third of the edges of the bill are yellow, legs and toes flesh-color.

"After the first molt, at about twelve months of age, the whole head and neck are covered with short, soft, downy feathers, the bases of which are black, the tips white; and the crest and mane are developed to the same extent as in the adult; the shoulders and scapulars are wood-brown; the lesser and median coverts to the secondaries wood-brown; the feathers all edged with paler; the greater coverts darker brown, edged with light brown; the coverts to the tertiaries grayish brown, edged with pale fulvous. The whole of the coverts narrow and sharp-pointed; the winglet, primaries, and their coverts dark brown; the secondaries brown, tinged with ashy on the outer webs; the whole back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and flanks white; the lower plumage whitish brown, each feather being white with the tip brownish, the feathers close, dense, and soft.

"In June of the third year, or when the bird is about thirty months old, the molt into adult breeding plumage is commenced and the change is entirely effected by October, except that in this first breeding season the wing-coverts never become entirely white as in the old birds, the feathers of these parts being a mixture of long sharp-pointed, white feathers, and comparatively blunt brown ones. Between June and October the pouch, which has hitherto been spotless, becomes blotched with livid as in the adults, the blotches extending to the face; the legs turn to dark brown; the iris becomes paler brown; and the spots on the bill become firm and well defined.

"Mr. E. W. Oates, having kept large numbers of P. philippensis in confinement, has had exceptional opportunities of studying the changes of plumage, and the above descriptions are the results of his observations, published in his Birds of British Burmah." (Grant.)

"We were informed that pelicans were abundant on the Laguna de Bay at certain seasons, but when we were there none were to be found. A number of specimens are preserved in the Jesuit Museum at Manila, and several live birds were to be seen there on different occasions when we visited the Museum. Padre Sanchez kindly offered us specimens, and we intended to accept his offer at a later date, but unforeseen circumstances prevented our doing so." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

"Abundant about fish-breeding ponds in tide-water marshes of Bulacan in February, 1904. Also at Anao, Tarlac Province, in same month and year. Fairly common in the Candaba swamp, Luzon." (Worcester.)

Order ACCIPITRIFORMES.

EAGLES, HAWKS, AND FALCONS.

Bill strong, upper mandible considerably longer than the lower, culmen much curved, end of bill hooked and its tip perpendicular; basal portion of bill covered by a membrane or cere, in which the nostrils are situated; legs large; feet very strong, claws curved and sharp; general plumage compact; wings long and powerful; tail nearly square, rarely forked or wedge-shaped.