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Show 576 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PELECANUS. [Nov. 25, Characters of the Subfamily. The Pelicans form a very strongly defined and well-marked group or division of the great family Pelecanidee, which is distinguished from all others by its members possessing gular sacs, less extensive in the Cormorants and Gannets, but having their greatest development in the birds forming the genus now under consideration. Another peculiar characteristic of this family is, that its members have the four toes connected by a thin semitransparent skin; the hind toe, articulated to the inner side of the tarsus, pointing inwards, sometimes directed slightly forwards. Although so well provided for a life in the watery element, they nevertheless perch well upon the branches of trees, in many instances build their nests upon the limbs raised high above the water. The young are incapable of providing for themselves, and do uot leave the nest for a long period after escaping from the shell. The family Pelecanidee is composed of six subfamilies, Pheetonince, Attageninee, Plotinee, Pelecaninee, Sulinee, and Graculinee, as it appears to the present writer. Gray comprises them in three, making Pelecaninee to include Sulinee, Graculinee, and Attageninee, while many writers make them all distinct families. These six subfamilies constitute the order Steganopodes. The members of this order occupy a very humble rank in the classification of birds, being only the second remove from the lowest, which comprises the Auks and their allies, some of which, in their wingless forms, or rather being incapable of flight, are but one step from the inhabitants of the deep. As a general rule the Pelecans are dwellers in warm countries, and are found mostly in those lying towards the equator; but there are exceptions to this, the P. erythrorhynchus of North America having been met with in great numbers in the fur-countries as high as 61° N. latitude, and the P. onocrotalus of Europe has penetrated into the colder regions of that continent. Pelicans are altrices, and do not generally lay more than two eggs, although three are sometimes found in the same nest. They are naturally arranged into two groups, according to the shape of the frontal feathers. One, of which we may consider P. onocrotalus as the type, has the feathers prolonged to a point, which divides the bare skin, and comes down nearly to the culmen ; the other, of which P. crispus may be taken as the type, has the feathers coming down upon the forehead and forming a concave line upon the culmen. The first of these embraces, beside the typical species, minor and javanicus; the second contains crispus, rufescens, conspicillatus, erythrorhynchus, fuscus, and molinee. All the species fly and walk well; one only dives or plunges. Pelicans are the largest of the water-birds, some species exceeding the Swan in size, and when upon the wing have an alar extent nearly as great as any bird that flies. Their bodies are heavy; but they seem to be no impediment to the bird when desirous of ascending into the air, where they frequently amuse themselves sailing in wide circles for hours. |
