23 



uame fiber should be used as a synonym of Sula piscator, haviug been 

 given by Linnaeus to the young of that species. 



Locality: Tiburon Island, Gulf of California. This is an abundant 

 species in the gulf. It was breeding in April. The nest from which 

 our specimen was taken contained two eggs, differing remarkably in 

 size: one measuring 2.35 by 1.70; the other only 2.20 by l.oO. They 

 are of the usual elliptical shape, greenish- white, with the ordinary, thick,, 

 white, calcareous incrustation. 



SULA PISCATOR, {L}jnn.) Bj). fNos. 07319, 07327, 07332]. 



Pelecanus piscator, Linn., Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 217. 



Sula Candida, Briss., Steph. Gen. Zool., xiii, 1826, 103. 



Sula erythrorhyncha, Less., Trait6, i, 1831, 601. 



Sula ruhripes, Gould, Proc. Zotil. Soc. London, 1837, 156. 



Sula rulripeda, Peale, U. S. Expl. Exped., Orn., 1848, 274. 



Sula piscator, Bp., Consp. Av., ii, 1857, 166. 



Locality: Fanning group, North Pacific. Several specimens were 

 taken at sea in the vicinity of this group of islands. When far away 

 from land, they flew aboard the ship in the evenings, and roosted on the 

 yards. They exhibited no signs of fear, but were easily captured by 

 the men who went aloft. In the majority of our specimens, the tail is 

 dark — it is white in the adult plumage. On Palmyra Island, their prin- 

 cipal breeding-place, the period of their incubation was over at the time 

 of our visit in December, but the young were not yet fledged. The latter^ 

 were very numerous; they covered the trees and bushes, and looked like 

 great balls of snow-white down. The nests are rudely constructed of 

 coarse twigs, and are built on the low trees. 



We arrived at Christmas Island one month later, in January, and 

 there we found the gannets still sitting on their eggs ; few or no young 

 were to be seen. This difference is probably induced by the physical 

 conditions surrounding them. One of the islands is situated almost 

 directly on the equator, exposed to the fiercest rays of a tropical sun ; 

 it is devoid of fresh water, and it rarely or never rains ; the vegeta- 

 tion is scanty and stunted, and life in general has a very unequal 

 struggle for existence. On the other island, Palmyra, a condition of 

 things directly opposite to these exists. The gannets of Christmas 

 Island have a very curious habit, which, as far as our observations ex- 

 tended, is confined to those of that island. Under their nests, which 

 were quite low on account of the stunted condition of the shrubbery, 

 were mounds one and two feet high, built of twigs, and in some instances 



