1. suLA. 427 



Tail composed of 12 feathers. The cutting-edges of the mandibles 

 serrated. The inner margin of the middle toe-nail pectinate. 

 Iris pale yellowish white ; bill pale bluish gre}', tinged with 

 green at the base ; bare space round the eyes, lines on the bill, and 

 gular space black ; feet brownish black, the scales light greenish 

 blue or emerald-green ; claws greyish white. 



Adult male. Total length about 36 inches, culmen from feathers 

 on forehead 3'95, wing 19, tail 8*8, tarsus 2-25. 



Adult female. Total length about 38 inches, culmen from feathers 

 on forehead 3"85, wing 18'8, tail S'7, tarsus 2"25. 



Young tvhenjirst hatched are naked and of a slaty-black colour ; 

 iris dark hazel ; naked skin round the eye livid slate-colour ; bill dull 

 elate, white at the point. Subsequently they become entirely 

 covered with white down. 



Young in first plumage. Head, neck, upper parts, wings, and tail, 

 as well as the under wing- and under tail-coverts, sooty brown, each 

 feather except the quills with a triangular white spot at the tip ; 

 the longer upper tail-coverts mostly white on the outer web, and 

 the shafts of the tail-feathers whitish ; breast, beUy, and rest of 

 underparts mottled with white and brownish grey, each feather 

 being white with a greyish-white extremity. Cutting-edges of the 

 mandibles and the inner margin of the middle toe-nail entire. 



Gradually the head, neck, and underparts become mostly white, 

 whUe the upper parts remain smoky-brown, indistinctly spotted 

 with white at the extremity. As age advances, the brown plumage 

 of the upper parts is gradually replaced by white. 



According to Booth, who kept a number of these birds in confine- 

 ment, making careful notes on their changes of plumage, the fully 

 adult dress is not attained until the sixth year. On the other hand, 

 Macgilhvray asserts that the adidt plumage is attained by the end 

 of the second autumn 



It is not unlikely that the natural changes of plumage are 

 retarded, or even arrested, in these birds when kept in confinement. 

 This is certainly the case in the birds of prey, and I am inclined to 

 believe that in a wild state the Gannet attains its fully adult 

 plumage by the end of the third year. All the changes as observed 

 by Booth are beautifully figured in his ' Eough Notes,' iii. 

 pt. V. pis. i.-vi. 



Hah. Coasts of the North Atlantic, extending south in winter to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and to North Africa, Madeira, and the Canary 

 Islands. 



a. Ad. sk. Great Britain. Hardwicke Bequest. 



h. 5 ad. sk. Great Britain. Leach Coll. 



c. Imm. sk. Great Britain. Bullock Coll. 



d. Ad. St. Shetland. Old Coll. 



e-g. Ad. sk. et st. St. Kilda. Theodore Walker, 



Esq. [P.]. 



h. Ad. St. Kintyre, Argyll, Scotlaud, Duke of Argyll [P.]. 



April 8. 



i-n. S 2 ad. et Bass Bock. E. Bidwell, Esq. [I'.]. 



pull. St. 



o. Ad. sk. Bass Rock, May. Hargitt Coll. 



