Part 147

Male with the bill light purplish-blue, white in the middle, the gular sac orange; bare skin around the eye blue; feet light carmine above, orange beneath; general colour of plumage brownish-black, the head, neck, back, breast, and sides, splendent with green and purple, the former predominating on the head, the latter on the back; wings tinged with green; inner secondaries and tail with brown, the shafts of the former black, of the latter brown. Female with a broad white space on the breast, that colour extending forwards along the sides of the neck, and encircling it about the middle; feathers of the back less elongated, and glossy; the dark parts more tinged with brown. Young at first covered with yellowish soft down.

Adult, 41, 86.

Resides constantly on and about the Florida Keys, where it breeds in vast numbers on trees. Ranges over the Gulf of Mexico, Bays of Texas, but rarely seen to the eastward of North Carolina.

Tachypetes Aquilus, Bonap. Syn. p. 406.

Frigate Pelican, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 491.

Frigate Pelican. Tachypetes Aquilis, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 495; v. v. p. 684.

GENUS IV. PELECANUS, Linn. PELICAN.

Bill about thrice the length of the head, rather slender, almost straight, depressed; upper mandible linear, depressed, convex at the base, gradually flattened, and a little enlarged to near the end, when it narrows, and terminates in a hooked point; ridge broad and convex at the base, gradually narrowed and flattened beyond the middle, separated by a groove from the sides, erect at the base, sloping toward the edges, edges very acute, with an internal groove; lower mandible with the angle excessively long, extending to the unguis, the sides erect and convex, the edges thin and involute, the tip decurved. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, concealed by the wrinkles of the skin. Head small, oblong; neck long, stout; body full, rather flattened. Feet short, and very stout; tarsus short, compressed, covered all round with hexagonal scales; toes in the same plane, all connected by webs, first shortest, fourth longer than third. Claws short, strong, curved, that of the third toe pectinate. Feathers of head and neck exceedingly small, slender, downy; of the other parts generally lanceolate and acuminate; wings very long, rather narrow, rounded; primaries much curved. Tail short, broad, rounded, of more than sixteen feathers. An enormous bare, extensile, gular sac; tongue extremely small, papilliform; œsophagus excessively wide; proventricular glands arranged in broad longitudinal series; stomach very small, with its muscular coat thin, its epithelium smooth and soft; a globular pyloric lobe; intestine long and narrow; cœca very small, cylindrical; cloaca globular.

423. 1. Pelecanus Americanus, Aud. American White Pelican.

Plate CCCXI. Male.

Bill with an erect crest on the ridge, and with the gular pouch and feet bright yellow; plumage white; elongated feathers on the occiput and breast pale yellow, with which also the smaller wing-coverts are tinged; alula, primary coverts, primary quills, and outer secondaries, black, with white shafts, inner ten secondaries white; tail of twenty-four feathers. Female generally without the horny crest, otherwise similar.

Male, 61-3/4, 103; bill, 13-3/4.

Common during winter from Texas to South Carolina, both along the coast, and about the lakes and rivers adjoining Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers. Breeds from California northward, to Lat. 61°. Accidental in the Middle Atlantic Districts.

American White Pelican, Pelecanus americanus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 88.

424. 2. Pelecanus fuscus, Linn. Brown Pelican.

Plate CCLI. Male. Plate CCCCXXI. Young.

Bill greyish-white, tinged with brown, and marked with irregular spots of pale carmine; bare space between the bill and the eye deep blue, eyelids pink, gular pouch greenish-black; feet black; hair-like feathers on the fore part of the head light yellow, the rest of the head white; a stripe of the same margining the pouch to the middle of the neck; a short space between these two lines anteriorly, and the whole of the posterior and lateral parts of the neck dark chestnut-brown, the small crest paler; back and wings dusky, each feather with the central part greyish-white; the latter colour prevailing on the scapulars and larger wing-coverts; primaries and coverts brownish-black, secondaries greyish-brown; their outer edges greyish-white; tail light grey, shafts of quills and tail-feathers white, unless toward the end; lower parts brownish-grey; sides of the neck and body with narrow longitudinal white lines; on the fore neck, below the dark chestnut spot a smaller pale yellow mark, behind which the feathers for a short space are blackish-brown. Young in second plumage with the bill greyish-blue, its edges and unguis greyish-yellow; gular pouch dull greyish-blue; bare space around the eye dusky blue; head and neck dark brown, as are the upper parts generally; secondary and many of the smaller coverts margined with pale brown; primaries and their coverts, as well as the tail-coverts, brownish-black, with white shafts; feet and claws dull leaden. Tail of twenty-two feathers.

Adult, 52, 80.

Very abundant and constantly resident from Texas along the shores eastward to North Carolina. Breeds on trees and also on the ground; eggs three.

Pelecanus fuscus, Bonap. Syn. p. 401.

Brown Pelican, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 476.

Brown Pelican, Pelecanus fuscus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 376; v. v. p. 212.

GENUS V. SULA, Briss. GANNET.

Bill longer than the head, opening beyond the eyes, straight, elongated, conical, moderately compressed; upper mandible, with the dorsal line, straight and declinate, at the end convex and a little decurved; the ridge very broad, convex, with a slight median carnia, and separated on each side from the sides, which are perpendicular, slightly convex, and have an additional narrow-jointed piece below the eye; edges sharp, direct, irregularly serrate with numerous slender cuts directed backwards, tip compressed, a little decurved, rather acute; lower mandible with the angle extremely long and narrow, the dorsal line straight, ascending, the sides erect, convex, the edges sharp and serrated, the tip compressed, acute. No external nostrils. Head large, neck of moderate length, and very thick; body of moderate bulk, rather elongated. Feet short, strong, placed rather far behind; tibiæ concealed; tarsus very short, rounded before, sharp behind, scaly, with three lines of small transversely oblong scutella, which run down the toes, the latter long and slender, all united by membranes having their margins straight; first toe rather small, directed inwards and forwards; middle toe longest, the outer almost equal. Claws of moderate size, slightly arched, that of the third toe pectinate. Plumage generally close, rather compact, on the head and neck blended. Wings very long, narrow, acute; first quill longest. Tail rather long, cuneate, of twelve or fourteen feathers. Gular sac small, with a small median portion bare; tongue extremely small, blunt; œsophagus extremely wide; proventricular glands forming a broad belt partially divided by intervals; stomach extremely small, its muscular coat thin, the inner soft; intestine of moderate length, slender; cœca very small; cloaca globular.

425. 1. Sula Bassana, Linn. Common Gannet.

Plate CCCXXVI. Adult Male, and Young.

Adult with the bill pale bluish-grey, tinged with green towards the base; bare space about the eye, lines on the bill and gular membrane blackish-blue; tarsi, toes, and webs, brownish-black, the scutella light greenish-blue, claws greyish-white; general colour of plumage white; upper part of head and hind neck buff-coloured; primary quills brownish-black, their shafts white toward the base. Young at first covered with very soft white down; when fully fledged, with the bill light greyish-brown, the bare space around the eye pale greyish-blue; feet dusky, the narrow bands of scutella pale greyish-blue; head, neck, and upper parts, chocolate-brown, each feather with a terminal narrow triangular white spot; lower parts greyish-white, spotted with greyish-brown, each feather having a broad terminal margin of that colour; quills and tail-feathers brownish-black.

Adult, 40-1/2, 75. Young fledged, 38, 72.