NATATORES — PELECANID.E SULA. 295 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



P. trachyrhyneus, Lath. (P. americanus, White Pelican. Aud. lb. Vol. 7, p. 20, pi. 422.) 

 Quills black; the first longer than the filth. Adult, white: crest, bill, pouch and feet yellow : 

 a bony process on the end of the bill. Young, whitish grey; back and wings dark ash. Length, 

 64-0. From Carolina to Texas. Ohio, Missouri, Columbia river. 



GENUS SULA. Brisson. 



Bill somewhat longer than the head, robust and straight, large at the base, compressed and 

 attenuated towards the tip. Upper mandible furrowed laterally ; the tip slightly hooked : 

 gape extending beyond the eyes ; face naked ; nostrils concealed. Tibia naked beneath. 

 Middle claw serrated on its inner edge. Tail graduated, of twelve rigid feathers. 



THE AMERICAN GANNET. 



SULA AMERICANA. 



PLATE CXXII. FIG. 269 (Immature). 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Sula bassana. BoNArARTE, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 40S. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 495. 

 <S. americana. Bonaparte, Geog. anil Comp. List, p. 60. Audubon, B. of A. Vol. 7, p. 44, pi. 425. 



Characteristics. White. Crown yellowish : primaries black ; shafts below whitish : face 

 bluish. Young, mottled with black and grey. Length, 37*0. 



Description. Chin and space round the eyes naked. Near the base of the upper mandi- 

 ble, a sharp process and suture, which the bird is enabled to move in a small degree in swal- 

 lowing a large fish. Bill slightly curved above at the point, 6"0 long. 



Color. White : crown of the head buff; legs dusky ; in front bluish yellow ; quills black. 

 Yearling, blackish brown unspotted. Second moult, from a specimen shot near Sandyhook 

 (fig. 269) : Bill 3*8 measured from above. Head and neck dark brown, with minute inter- 

 rupted streaks of white, more numerous and pointed on the throat. Base of the neck and 

 breast, and wing-coverts, with larger and more distant arrow-headed spots. Back, rump, 

 wings and tail deep brownish black, with a few spots of the same shape on the back and 

 rump. Upper tail-coverts white, with rounded spots of black. Axillaries brown, paler near 

 the shafts, and (with the lateral tail-feathers) tipped with white. Shafts of the tail-feathers 

 white ; black towards the tips. Beneath white ; the tips of all the feathers brownish. Under 

 tail-coverts pale towards the shafts, brown on the edges, and an obsolete bar of the same 

 towards the tips, which are white. Length, 36 ■ 0. After this moult, the plumage becomes 

 gradually whiter until the fourth year. 



Length, 36" 0-37*0. 



