296 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
Immature birds are sooty-brown on the under parts and 
lower back ; the white shaft-stripes on the upper plumage are 
tinged with yellow ; the neck is pale brown, whitish under- 
neath. , 
Bill brownish on the upper, yellowish on the lower mandible ; 
iris yellow ; legs black. 
Length 36; wing 13°5; tail 10; tarsus 1:5; bill from gape 
38. 
Distribution —Common on tanks all through the dry zone 
of the low-country. Found throughout India, Burma, and 
the whole of the Oriental region. 
Habits.—Like the Cormorants, this bird feeds entirely on 
fish. It swims with only the head and neck out of water, 
and can travel for a long way under the surface. It is very 
wary, and generally keeps well out of range. It breeds in 
colonies in the early part of the year. The nest and eggs 
resemble those of Cormorants. The eggs are three or four in 
number, and measure about 2°10 by 1°35. 
Family SuLIDz. 
Genus Sula. 
Gannets and Boobies. 
The genus contains about six species, comprising the more 
active Gannets which are found in the temperate zone and 
the more sluggish Boobies which range round the tropics. 
The bill is powerful and pointed, curving slightly at the end. 
The skin of the face and of the throat adjoining the bill is 
naked ; the nostrils are placed at the base of the bill, being 
minute even in young birds and completely closed in adult 
specimens. The wings are long and pointed, the tail long and 
wedge-shaped. 
The Boobies feed mainly on flying fish and wander through- 
out the tropical seas, but are chiefly found about reefs and 
islands. They breed on isolated rocky islands, laying one 
chalky-white egg with an inner texture of green. 
Two species have occurred in Ceylon as occasional stragglers. 
