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Show 416 A. VES. PELECANus, Lin. The Pelicans comprise all those in which the base. of the. bill is 1' d to have some part destitute of feathers. Theu· nostnls are .lOUD 'b T fissures, the apertures of which are scar_cely percept!. le. he skin of their throat is more or less cxtens1ble, and then• tongue very small. Their thin gizzard, with their other stomachs, forms a large sac. Their creca are moderate or small. PELEOANus, Illig.-ONOOROTALus, Briss.( 1) The bill of the True Pelicans is very remarkable for its extreme length, its straight, very broad and horizontally flattene~ form, for the hook which terminates it, and for the lower mandible whose flexible branches sustain a naked membrane, susceptible of being dilated into a large sac. Two grooves extend along its length, in which the nostrils are concealed. The circumference of the eye is naked, and the tail round. P. onocrotalus, L.; Enl. 87; Edw. ~2; Frisch, 186. (The Common Pelican.) As large as a Swan, entirely white, slightly tinged with flesh colour; the hook of the bill of a cherry-red; is mot·e or less disseminated throughout the eastern continent, breeds in marshes, and feeds exclusively on living Fish. It is said to • transport both food and water in its sac. The different changes this bird undergoes from age are not sufficiently ascertained tO' render certain the species of its genus that are enumer·ated.(2) . PHALAOROOOllAx, Briss.-CARno, Meyer.-HALIEus, Illig. The Cormorants(3) have an elongated and compressed beak, the (1) Pelecanus and Onocrotalus are two Greek names of this bird Latinized. (2) I see no difference between the Common Pelican and the Pelec. roseus~ Son· ner. Prem. Voy. pl. liv. As to the Pelec. manille:nsis, Id. LUI, Sonnerat htmself sa.ys he thinks it is the young of the roseus. Neither can I find any differen~e b~· tween the fuscus, Edw. 93, and that of the Pl. Enl. 965, called rosezes, but wh1ch IS much more like the manillensis. Temminck thinks this figure represents the young of the common species. The philippensis, Bl'iss., VI, pl. lvi, is the same specimen from which the Pl. Enl. 965 was taken, so that both are the young af the anocrotalus. That of pl. 957, also called fuscus, appears to be really a species identical with that ofVieill. Gal. 276.-Add the Pel. a lunettes (P. pe1·spicillatus, T.) Col. 276. (3) Cormorant, from Cormoran, a corrupti9n of Corbeau marin, on account of its black colour. It is in fact the Aquatic Crow of Aristotle. Phalacrocur(J$ (Bald Crow) is the Greek name of this bird, indicated by Pliny, but is not employed by Aristotle. That of Carbo is only used by Albert, who perhaps derived it from the Germanuame Scltarb . To all these names Vieillot has added that of Hyd,.ocorll$, Gal. 275. PALMIPEDES. 417 end of the upper mandible hooked, and that of the lower one truncated; the tongue is very small, and the skin of the throat less dilatable; the nostrils resemble a:small unpierced line, and the nail of the middle toe is notched like a saw. The TnuE CoRMORANTs have a round tail composed of fourteen quills. Pel. carbo, L., Enl. 927; the young, Frisch, 187 and 188; and Brit. Zool. pl. L, l. (The Cormorant.) Black-brown, undulated with jet black on the back, and mixed with white near the end of the bill and front of the neck; circumference of the throat and the cheeks, white, in the male, which also has a tuft on the occiput. Its size is that of the Goose. It breeds in holes among the rocks or upon trees, and lays three or four eggs. Pel. graculus, Gm.; Enl. 97 4, the young. (The Little Cormorant.) Is somewhat smaller, of a deeper black and more bronzed; no white on the front of the neck; the feathers on the back more pointed; not so common as the preceding species.( I) T AOHYPETEs, Vieill. The Frigate Birds differ from the Cormorants in their forked tail and short feet, the membranes of which are deeply emarginated; in an excessive length of wing, and in a bill both of whose mandibles are curved at the point. So powerful are their wings, that they fly to an immense distance from all land, principally between the tropics, darting upon the Flying Fish and striking the Boobies to make them disgorge their prey. One species only is well known, the Pelecanus aquilus, L., Enl. 961, Vieill., Gal., pl. 27 4, whose plumage is black, the under part of the throat and neck more or less varied with white, and the bill red. Its wings, when expanded, are said to measure from ten to twelve feet.(2) SuLA, Briss.-DvsroRus, Illig. The Boobies(3) have a straight, slightly compressed, pointed bill, the point slightly arcuated; its edges are sct·rated, the teeth (1) Add the Cormoran longup., Tern. (Pel. cristatus, Olafs.), Voy. en Isl., tr. fr. pl. xliv, Col. 322, and Vieill. Gal. 276;-Pel. africanus, Lath.; Sparm. Mus. Carls., I, 10;-Pelec. pygmmus, Pall., Voy., App., pl. l. . (2) Naturalists have, somewhat gratuitously, raised to the rank of spec1es the Pelec. minor, Edw. 309, and leucocephalus, Buff. Ois., VIII, pl. xxx, and perhaps even the P. Palmerstoni, Lath. (3) Sula is the name of the common species at the Feroe Islands, Hoyer, Clusius, Exot. 36. Booby, their English name, from their stupidity, ut sup. VoL. l.-3 C |