64 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



exposed culmen 80.5-86.0 (83.7), tarsus 35-40.3 (37.3), middle toe 

 with claw 70-75.5 (72) mm. 



A visitor to the Caribbean coast. Not much is known as to its 

 abundance. 



The first record is that of Griscom (Amer, Mus. Nov. no. 282, 

 1927, p. 3), who reported two in Colon harbor on February 23, 

 1927. Thomas Imhof informs me that he saw one 5 miles off Colon 

 on February 23, 1943, and I recorded one that was fishing off the 

 mouth of the Rio Indio, Colon, to the west of the Canal Zone, on 

 February 20, 1952. In addition to these sight records I have an 

 excellent color photograph of a red-footed booby taken on December 

 14, 1955, by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Barnard. The bird, in gray plumage 

 with white tail, found on board a ship at Cristobal, was brought to 

 Balboa, photographed, and released there. The U. S. National 

 Museum has an adult female given to me by Charles L. Fagan, when 

 wireless operator on the Grace Line vS". 5. Santa Elena, taken August 

 27, 1924, in the Caribbean, 300 kilometers N.N.E. of Colon. The 

 species is not known to breed in Panamanian waters, the nearest 

 nesting colony of which there is record being on Half Moon Cay 

 off British Honduras. 



Murphy (Oceanic Birds S. Amer., 1936, pp. 861-865) after de- 

 tailed discussion on the color variations in these boobies does not 

 find clearcut grounds on which to distinguish geographic races. 

 These are to be expected as the species ranges through tropical seas 

 around the world, and other current treatment recognizes separate 

 forms for the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific. The eastern Pacific 

 population, which nests in the Revilla Gigedo Islands, on Cocos 

 Island off Costa Rica, and in the Galapagos, may range casually into 

 the Gulf of Panama. This Pacific group, described as Sula sula 

 wehsteri by Rothschild, is supposed to differ from typical Sula s. sula 

 on the basis of a slightly longer wing. The only report to date is an 

 uncertain one by Mrs. Sturgis (Birds Panama Canal Zone, 1928, p. 

 HI), who says that it is found "about the Pearl Islands" without 

 more definite statement. This reference, however, without much 

 doubt, refers to one of the other boobies. 



Family PHALACROCORACIDAE: Cormorants; Cuervos 



Marinos 



The range of the 30 species of this aquatic family covers much of 

 the world, as cormorants have adapted to life in both salt and fresh 

 waters, as well as to a considerable range of temperature. The spread 



