GANNETS 



91 



The Booby is a common bird in the West 

 Indies and on the coasts of tropical lands to the 

 south. While on ship-board in the F'acific Ocean 

 otT the coast of Panama and Nicarat,>"ua I 

 observed these birds in sight at all hours of the 

 day. Their flight is strong and easy, and the 

 flapping is alternated with brief intervals of sail- 

 ing. At times they would wheel on set wings 

 and plunge headlong into the sea. Their food 

 consists of marine animal life, fish evidently con- 

 stituting the bulk of their menu, as the birds 

 were usually more numerous in the neighbor- 

 hood of schools of porpoises. On three occasions 

 I saw Boobies standing on the backs of basking 

 sea-turtles, one of which seemed not at all dis- 

 turbed by the weight of two birds that were 

 taking a rest on his broad caraj^ace. 



Boobies collect in numbers to nest on lonely 

 isles. In Camps and Cruises of an Ornitholoijist, 

 Doctor Chapman has written of the habits of a 

 colony of fifteen hundred pairs of Boobies which 

 he visited and studied in the spring of 1907. The 

 place was a small island known as Cay Verde, 

 lying on the outer fringe of the Bahama Islands. 

 The nests were simple affairs placed on the 

 ground. Two eggs are laid about a week ajiart, 

 but for some reason rarely more than one young 

 bird is reared. Of their domestic habits he 

 writes : 



" In spite of the apparent sociability expressed 

 by their communal habits, the Boobies immedi- 



ately resented the trespass on their home site by 

 one of their own kind. \\'here the nature of the 

 ground permitted, their nests were placed with 

 more or less regularity six or eight feet from one 

 another. As long as a bird remained within its 

 own domain having a diameter of approximately 

 six or eight feet, it was not molested, but let it or 

 its young advance beyond these limits and they 

 were promptly attacked. 



" So closely, however, are the birds confined to 

 their own little areas that difficulties of this kind 

 are rare and under normal conditions peace 

 reigns in the rookery. But when we walked 

 through the rookery, the birds in escaping from 

 the larger evil forgot the lesser one and inad- 

 vertently backed on to a neighbor's territorv. the 

 unusual cause of the trespass was not accepted 

 as an excuse and they found the ' frying pan ' 

 was worse than the ' fire,' as the enraged owner, 

 with bustling feathers, furiously assailed them 

 with open bill, sometimes taking hold. At these 

 times, and whene\er the birds were alarmed, 

 they gave utterance to hoarse, rancorous screams 

 or screeches, though, as a rule, they were com- 

 [laratively silent," 



In summer Boobies occasionally range up the 

 Atlantic coast as far as Georgia, but such visits 

 are rare, for they are distinctly birds of tropical 

 and subtropical seas. Unlike the Albatross and 

 Petrel, they are seldom seen far from land. 

 T. Gilbert Pe.arson. 



Other Names. — Common Gannet 

 Soland Goose : Solan Goose : .Solon Goose ; Jan van 

 Gent ; Grand Fou. 



General Description. — Length, 3 feet. Prevailing 

 color, white. Uuosc-sliaf'cd. 



Color. — Adults: Plumage, zvhitc; primaries and 

 their coverts, black; head with a pale wash of amber- 

 yellow ; bill, grayish tinged with greenish or blin'sh ; 

 lores and throat sac, black; feet, black with greenish 

 or bluish scales ; iris, white or pale yellow. Young : 

 Plumage, dark brown with a tinge of olive, spotted or 

 streaked everywhere with white ; on head and neck the 

 spots tending to form streaks, on back and wing-coverts, 

 triangular, usually one on end of each feather; ]iriniaries 



GANNET 

 Sula bassana [Linnwus) 



\. O. U. Xumlter 117 See Color ['late 9 



White Gannet; and tail, dusky. 



Intermediates between these two 

 plumages are common, as it requires three years to 

 reach perfect plumage. 



Nest and Eggs. — Ne.st: On precipitous cliffs over- 

 looking the sea ; constructed principally of seaweed. 

 Eggs: Single, pale greenish-blue, flaked with chalky- 

 white. 



Distribution. — Coasts of North Atlantic; breeds on 

 riird Rock and Bonaventure Island in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and on islands ofif British Isles ; winters from 

 North Carolina coast south to Gulf of Mexico, and on 

 coasts of north .-Xfrica, Madeira, and the Canaries; 

 occurs ofT eastern United .States in migration ; casual 

 north to Greenland; accidental in liuliana and Ontario. 



The Gannet is the largest bird of our north its heavy body and muscular neck would make it 



Atlantic coast. It is about three feet from tip a formidable antagonist, if it were pugilistic in its 



of bill to end of tail. It is four feet and more disposition. It is a white bird with black-tipped 



between the tips of its outstretched wings, and wings and its color renders it a conspicuous 



