THE GANNET'S OSTEOLOGY 501 



to be described presently, viz. to lessen the force of the 

 plunge, which, directed as it often is from a height of 

 sixty feet, must be something tremendous. 



In treating of the Gannet's osteology* it will be con- 

 venient to consider the skeleton as disarticulated, and for 

 convenience sake to divide it into two portions — the one 



* It would be surprising if the osteology of so remarkable a bird had not 

 attracted the attention of scientific men, among whom the first to take 

 notice of it was Friedrich Faber, the pioneer of Icelandic ornithology, whose 

 account of the Gannet, printed ninety years ago, has already been quoted 

 with approval (p. 277). The seven chief writers on the subject are as 

 follows : — 



F. Faber. " Isis," 1826 (Vol. X., p. 708). 



J. F. Brandt. "Mem. Ac. St. Petersburg," 1840 (Vol. V., pp. 104, 

 139, 181) : Figures of the foot and skull. 



R. Owen. ' ' Osteological Series, contained in the Museum of The Royal 

 College of Surgeons," 1853 (Vol. I., p. 225). 



T. C. Eyton. " Osteologia Avium," 1867 (p. 220, Plate 6, L). 



St. George Mivart. " On the Axial Skeleton of the Pelecanidse " : " Trans. 

 Zoological Soc," 1878, p. 315 : Characters of the genus Sida, p. 367 : Figures 

 of the vertebrae, sternum, and pelvis. 



R. W. Shufeldt. " Osteology of Stila hassana" : " Proc. United States 

 Nat. Mus.," 1888 (Vol. XI., p. 287) : Figures of the skull, sternum, and pelvis. 



Max Fiirbringer. ' ' Untersuchungen zm- Morphologic und Systematik 

 der Vogel," 1888 (Vol. II., Staganopodes, p. 1,168, Plates of Stda, II., 

 Fig. 20 ; III., Fig. 64 ; V., Fig. 59 ; VII., Fig. 26 ; XX., Fig. 1 ; XXV., 

 Fig. 21). 



R. W. Shufeldt. "Memoirs of The Carnegie Museum," 1901-4 (Vol. I., 

 p. 132). 



Reference should also be made to Mr. W. P. Pycraft's contribution 

 to the osteology of the Steganopodes in the "Proceedings of The Zoological 

 Society" (1898, p. 82). His remarks apply to all the Gannets, but the skull 

 figured (Plate 8, Fig. 2) is that of the Brown Booby, Sida leucogastra. 



For titles of articles on the osteology and anatomy of Phalacrocorax, see 

 "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Vol. XXVI., p. 330. 



