N£SrS AXD EGGS Ol- AC ST KALI AN BIRDS. ySl 



FAMILY— SULID^ : GANNETS. 



726.— "^II.A >EI!l!ATOI!. G. R. ClaV.- -( Gli 1) 



GANNET. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 76. 



Kiference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Miis., vol. xxvi., p. 428. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Potts : Trans. New Zealand Inst., 

 vol. ii., p. 78 (1870) ; Hutton : Trans. New Zealand Inst., 

 vol. iii., p. 112 (1S71) ; Buller : Birds of New Zealand (1873), 

 vol. ii., p. 181 (1S88) ; Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1S83) ; also Victorian Naturalist (1S94) : North : .\ustn. Mus. 

 Cat , p. 363 (1889I. 



Geuyraphical Distribution. — Seas of Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoiia, South and West Australia and Ta.smania ; also New Zealand. 



Xe<t. — Low. built upon the gi-ound of the suiTOunding soil and debins 

 scraped up and well, trodden, and slightly concave on the top. Dimen- 

 sions : outside circumference about 5 feet, height 4 to 5 inches ; concave 

 top 7 to 8 inches across by lA inches deep. A rookery on Cat Island, 

 off Flinders Island, eastern entrance to Bass Strait, measured about 

 150 yards in circumference, the nests being placed in fairly regular rows, 

 30 inches apart, each nest from centre to centre being separated by e.xactly 

 the same distance. 



Ei/y-'. — Clutch, one ; elongated oval in form ; texture of she'l coarse ; 

 surface without gloss ; coloiu", the thick and rough limy coatings dull, or 

 chalky-white, more or less stained with dirty-brown (the longer the egg 

 remains in the nest, the dirtier the appearance). If the coating be re- 

 moved a bluish-wliite shell is revealed. Dimensions in inches of selected 

 examples: (1) 3-4 x 1-95, (2) 3-12 x 1-88, (3) 3-12 x 1-85, (4) 3-0 x 1-9, 

 (,^) 3-06 X 1-87, (6) 3-02 X 1-8. 



Ohservations. — This fine Gannet is the most commonly known to 

 Australians,, being fotind round the southern part of the Continent from 

 Queensland to West Australia, including Tasmania, where probably it 

 is most abundant. 



The only large rookeries I am aware of are in Bass Strait. There 

 arc small ones in New Zealand. 



To see a company of Gannets fishing, is a sight to be remembered. 

 From aloft they plunge nearly vertically into the water, sending up 

 wreaths of sea spray several feet high as they enter. 



Gould pleasantly 'ivrote : "I foimd the Sula (nistralis generally 

 dispersed over the seas washing the shores of Taslnania, but most 

 niunerous on the south side of the island. The Mewstone, the vSoutli 

 Cape, the I'ock at the mouth of D Entreca.steaux's Channel, and the low 

 Actjeon Islands were tenanted by hundreds diuing the period of my 

 visit in 1839 : and it was also seen, but in less numbers, alon? the entire 



