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.