Darters cannot be classed as marine birds, though they frequent inlets of the sea as well as lakes and rivers, where they sun themselves with outspread wings on some stump, rock, tree, or even tuft of rushes, while seldom admitting of a near approach. When disturbed, they circle in the air with the neck drawn back upon the shoulders, as do the Pelicans; but the flight is laboured, and they are much more at their ease in water, where they swim very low, exposing only the head and neck, or even the bill, if danger threatens, and having a very snake-like appearance, as they sway gracefully from side to side in their endeavours to keep the intruder in view. Hardly a ripple follows the prolonged dive, while below the surface the wings are but slightly used, the tail being often expanded, and the feet acting as powerful paddles. On reappearance a fish is generally to be seen grasped in the bill or transfixed by it, the peculiar mechanism of the vertebrae of the neck allowing the head to be darted forward at a moment's notice for the capture;[[83]] subsequently the prey is jerked up into the air, cleverly caught and swallowed. The food, which seldom varies, is sometimes obtained by the bird standing with the body immersed to waylay the passing shoals; but if Gould is correct in adding frogs, newts, and aquatic insects to the diet, these must be procured very differently. The nest, generally situated over water, is a flat or concave fabric of sticks, lined as a rule with leaves, moss, or roots, and often used for several years in succession. High trees or bushes are indifferently chosen, and colonies are usually, but not invariably, formed, several pairs being accustomed to breed in proximity on the branches. The two to five eggs are greenish-blue with chalky incrustation, like those of Cormorants, though smaller and more delicate. The note is short and hoarse. Both sexes are said to incubate, and to regurgitate food for the young.[[84]] Jerdon says that the scapulars of the Indian Darter were royal badges among the Khasias. It is tamed by boatmen in Bengal.
Fam. IV. Fregatidae.–Fregata aquila, the Frigate- or Man-of-War-Bird, the latter of which names is sometimes transferred to the Albatroses and smaller Skuas, is met with throughout the tropical regions, and has even strayed as far north as Nova Scotia. It is blackish-brown with green and purple reflexions; the bill is bluish, the feet are black, the orbits, lores, and pouch–inflated in flight–scarlet. The female is browner above and white below, with pinkish feet and no perceptible pouch; while the young resemble her, but shew some white on the head and neck. F. minor, found from Madagascar to Papuasia and North Australia, but seldom beyond these limits, is smaller, with less purple gloss and a white mark on each flank.
Fig. 24.–Frigate Bird. Fregata aquila. × ⅛.
These birds are usually seen singly or in pairs, and are pre-eminently oceanic, seldom coming to land except near the breeding quarters, where they roost on the trees; the normal flight is extremely rapid, graceful, and long-sustained, with sudden deviations from the course, but they often soar until they appear mere specks in the sky, descending thence with great abruptness. At times they float aloft with little apparent movement of the wide-spread wings, alternately opening and shutting the forked tail and inclining the head from side to side, while in hurricanes they fly low before the gale. At rare intervals they are found sitting asleep upon the shore. Flocks frequently pursue the surface-swimming fish, constituting their main aliment, which are seized almost without ruffling the water; squids, small crabs, flying fish, and young turtles being also eaten. To see a Frigate-bird plunge, however, is no uncommon occurrence, and the habit of forcing Terns, Boobies, and the like to disgorge their prey, which is caught before it reaches the waves, must not be forgotten.[[85]] If secured in an awkward position the captures are tossed up in the air, caught again and swallowed. The note, a harsh croak or cackle, is seldom heard. The nest of small sticks, which the birds tear off upon the wing, is generally in trees or bushes, though occasionally on the ground or on a bare rock; it is often very slight, and almost invariably contains one egg, resembling that of the Cormorant. The young are fed by regurgitation, and both sexes are said to incubate, sitting very closely, and merely snapping at an intruder. The feathers are used for head-dresses in the Pacific Islands.
Fam. V. Pelecanidae.–Pelecanus onocrotalus, the Pelican, of South-East Europe, North-East and South-West Africa, reported also from France, Germany, and Denmark, is white with a rosy or salmon tinge, the primaries being black, and the moderate occipital crest and stiff elongated feathers of the lower fore-neck washed with yellow. The lores and orbits are naked, while an enormous dilatable semi-transparent pouch fills the space between the branches of the lower jaw. According to Mr. Dresser,[[86]] these parts and a fleshy knob appearing on the forehead in spring are yellow, the bill is bluish-grey with pink sides marked with red, and the feet are also pink. These colours, however, may vary with the season. In this species, and to a certain extent in P. erythrorhynchus, the feathering on the forehead ends in a point, but elsewhere is more or less concave anteriorly. Closely allied forms of doubtful validity are P. minor, with a somewhat similar range, P. sharpii of West Africa, and P. mitratus of South Africa. P. crispus, occupying a slightly more eastern area than P. onocrotalus, is distinguished from it by the curled filamentous plumes which overhang the sides of the head, the lack of rosy tints, and the flesh-coloured orbits. P. erythrorhynchus of temperate North America, found in winter down to Guatemala, resembles the last-named, but has a still more pendent nuptial crest, and in the breeding season develops a curious triangular horny excrescence on the middle of the culmen, shed about May. The chest and wing-coverts show a little yellow, the bill and naked parts are reddish, the feet orange-red, while the lower jaw is densely feathered. P. rufescens of the Ethiopian Region, apparently identical with P. philippensis of South Asia, is white, with black primaries, and a grey shade on the secondaries, tail, crested head, or even lower surface; the back is rose-coloured; the stiff feathers on the fore-neck, the bill and pouch, are yellowish, with vertical red lines on the latter. The remainder of the bare skin is flesh-coloured, and the feet are pink. P. fuscus of the warmer coasts of North America, the range of which south of Panama is uncertain, and depends upon the validity of P. molinae of Peru and Chili, has a white or occasionally yellowish head, silvery-grey upper parts with dusky streaks, and browner under parts. The crested nape is chestnut, varying to blackish; the bill and loral region are grey or bluish, the dark-tipped maxilla being spotted with red; the pouch is red, or dusky, like the feet; the bare orbits are blue. P. conspicillatus of Australia and Southern New Guinea is white, with black wings and tail and a yellow wash on the chest; the bill, feet, and naked parts are yellowish-white, with a blue tinge on the two first and a similarly coloured ring round the orbits, which are divided by a feathered space from the lores. In this Family the sexes are similar; the young being usually crestless, and of a brown hue, with yellowish or dusky pouch and occasionally white mottlings.
Fig. 25.–Crested Pelican. Pelecanus crispus. × ⅑.
Pelicans inhabit not only tidal waters, but also swampy districts and inland lakes, traversing in some cases vast distances on migration, and being usually found in company. Though heavy, and of enormous size, they fly buoyantly and swiftly, with the neck drawn in upon the shoulders and the feet extended behind; while at times they soar in spiral fashion to great altitudes, and circle around with alternate flapping and sailing movements. On land the gait is awkward and waddling, and great difficulty is experienced in rising; but some species habitually perch, and all are very proficient in the water, swimming, diving, or plunging from great heights, according to their various customs. The food consists almost entirely of moderate-sized fish taken by the bird either by pouncing down sharply from above, or, when quiescent on the surface, by immersing the head or disappearing totally from sight with a somersault. The prey is chiefly sought in shallows, and is retained in the pouch until the birds return to land, or until it is transferred half-macerated to the young; occasionally the adults may be seen gorged after feeding, sitting upon the water or basking in the rays of the sun. The deep loud note is very seldom heard. Pelicans usually breed in colonies in wild districts, though occasionally near villages,[[87]] the nest, when on the branches of trees, being of sticks with a lining of twigs or roots, as in P. philippensis; at other times it is a rough mound of gravel and rubbish on the ground with a slight cavity above, as is often the case in the American species, which also lay in mere depressions in the sand, the localities chosen being generally islands in lakes or rivers; the European forms amass a pile of reeds and grasses among aquatic herbage in like places or swamps, while the Australian constructs a large fabric of sticks and water-plants in similar spots or on the summits of rocky islets. The eggs, varying from one to five, but ordinarily two or three in number, are white or bluish-white with a chalky incrustation, soon becoming soiled and often stained with blood. The parents are as a rule shy and easily scared from the nest, where the smell from the refuse fish and excrement is in many cases intolerable. Incubation lasts about four weeks. Bands of these birds sometimes unite to systematically beat the water for their prey, stowing it in the distensible pouch. In India they are used–frequently with the eyes sewn up–to decoy fish by their oily secretions,[[88]] and in various countries they are slaughtered for the sake of the latter. The fable of the young being fed with blood from the female's breast may have arisen from confusion of the Pelican with the Flamingo, which ejects a blood-like liquid from its mouth.[[89]]
Of fossil Steganopodes we have Phaëthon from the Pliocene of India; three species of Pelecanus from the same formation of the Siwalik hills, one from the Miocene of Bavaria, one from that of Allier in France, and one from the Queensland drifts; while in England that genus is recorded, on the strength of the humerus, radius, and ulna from the Plistocene of Norfolk and from the Isle of Ely. Sula has occurred in the Miocene of Carolina, and of Auvergne and Ronzon in France; the giant Pelagornis–akin to Sula and Pelecanus, but perhaps indicating a distinct family–has also been found in the Miocene near Bordeaux; and Argillornis, related to Sula, in the Lower Eocene (London Clay) of England. From the same beds we have the remarkable Odontopteryx toliapica, with coarsely serrated edges to the jaws; Phalacrocorax has been met with in the North American Pliocene, the same strata of the Siwalik hills, the Miocene of Allier and the Orléannais in France, and the Pampean of Argentina, Actiornis anglicus of Lydekker being a close ally from the Hampshire Eocene; Plotus nanus has been described from the Mare aux Songes in Mauritius and from Central Madagascar, P. parvus from Queensland.