118 BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. Sula. 



171. P. cristatus. Crested Shag. — Tail short, rounded, of 

 12 feathers. Length, from the tip of the bill to the feathers 

 on the front, 2 inches 4 lines. ( Temm.) 



Pel. crist. Fab. Faun. Groen. 90 — Carbo crist. Temm. Orn. ii. 900 — Con- 

 founded with the preceding. 

 Size like P. graculus, or larger. Bill brown. I rides green. Feet black. 

 Plumage deep green, with a tinge of bronze on the back and wings ; each 

 feather with a black margin. Crown with a tuft of feathers, upwards of an 

 inch long, and capable of erection. Nape with a crest of 10 or 12 long subulate 

 feathers. AVings reach to the base of the tail. Tail very short, rounded. 

 Plumage destitute of the peculiar, slender, white feathers possessed by the 

 two-preceding species. In winter the coronal tuft disappears. Nest and eggs 

 like the shag. The young may readily be distinguished by their long slender 

 bill and short tail. Above, the plumage is greenish-brown ; beneath, cine- 

 reous-brown, with more or less white. The circumstance of each having on- 

 ly 12 tail-feathers, has caused the Common and Crested Shags to be confound- 

 ed. The one noticed by Montagu in the Supp. Orn. Diet., as having been 

 killed by Mr Bullock on the Bass, belongs to the latter species. The prece- 

 ding characters, chiefly extracted from Temminck, will serve to point out the 

 distinction. 



In the proceedings of the Linnean Society, " Annals of Philosophy," vol. 

 xxii. p. 152, it is stated, that, on 3d June 1823, there was read " a letter from 

 Mr Robert Anstice, relative to a bird shot in the neighbourhood of Bridge- 

 water, varying but little from the crested cormorant, and distinguished by 

 having 16 feathers in the tail." No notice is taken of this circumstance in 

 the " Extracts from the Minute-book." — Linn. Trans, xiv. p. 582. 



Gen. LXXX. SULA. Gannet.— Margin of the bill ser- 

 rated, extremity nearly straight. No occipital osseous ap- 

 pendage, as in the preceding genus. 



172. S. Basso ma. Common Gannet. — Plumage white, the 

 crown buff colour. 



Anser Bassanus, Will. Orn. 247. Sibb. Scot. 20 Pel. Bass. Linn. Syst. 



i. 217- Perm. Brit. Zool. ii. G12 — S. alba, Temm. Orn. ii. 905 E, 



Gannet ; S, Solan Goose, Solan (Norse Sule) ; W, Gan. — Common. 



Length 3, breadth G feet ; weight 7 pounds. Bill (together with the naked 

 spot) bluish, 6 inches long, nearly straight, a little bent at the point, where 

 there is a slight nail. Irides yellow. Legs and toes black, with green streaks, 

 nails white. Bastard wing and greater quills black. Tail of 12 pointed fea- 

 thers, the middle ones longest. — Nest of sea-weeds, on small inaccessible 

 islands. Eggs 1, white, rough Young, during the first year, with the plu- 

 mage brownish-black, the irides brown. The second year each feather above 

 has a white spot at the end ; below, a dusky spot on each side of the shaft* 

 Gannets breed in great numbers on the Bass, Souleskerry, St Kilda, Ailsa, 

 and Skelig Islands. They betake themselves to the open sea during the win- 

 ter, pursuing the shoals of herrings, pilchards, and other fish. They dart 

 nearly vertically upon their prey in the water. 



The Great White Pelican (Pelecanm onocrelulus, Temm. Orn. ii. 891.), ana. 

 tive of eastern Europe, Avas shot in England, at Horsey Fen, in 16G3, as ap- 

 pears from a MS. of T. Brown of Norwich, in the British Museum. Dr 



