A Synopsis of the Birds of North AmericaAudubon, John James
Science
A Synopsis of the Birds of North America
Audubon, John James
Birds -- Classification; Birds -- North America
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.
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