SUMO*. 



^"PNIll': l\ed-le,L;sed Ganiift is the siuallfst species of the L;enu> inhabiting the islands and 

 J- seas of Xoitliern and North-eastern Austialia, the ishmds of Torres Strait, and Kaine 

 l^let on the ocean side, and towards the niirthern extieniity (jf the Great Barrier Reef. Its ultra 

 Australian ranf,'e extends to the tiopical and suh-tropical seas of both hemispheres, and is found 

 among other localities in the Aiu Islands. I'hilippine Islands, the Moluccas, Java, Ijorneo, the 

 Alaldive Islands. Mauritius. Kodii^uez, the West Indies, and I lail Moon Key, British Honduras. 

 There is so much difference in the adult and immature plumage of this species, that Linna-us, 

 who originally described it so far hack as 177'', described the former under the name of Pclcctiiiiis 

 pisKiti-'i-, and the latter under the name of P. nlici. < >n Kaine Islet in October, 1910, Dr. 

 \V. Mac-illivray found this species breedmg, both in the adult and immature plumage, the 

 Ked-leyged Gannet standing uniijue in the members of the i^enus Sula inhabiting the islands 

 conti.i;uous to .\ustralia, inasmuch as it is the only species that constructs a compact nest of 

 sticks and twigs and places it on a low bush. 



In his folio edition of the Birds of .Australia Gould wrote :--" Since tlie year 1837, when I 

 published the description of a Gannet in the ' Proceedin-s of the Zoological Society,' under the 



name of yuhripcs, 

 1 r o m the only 

 specimen that had 

 then come under 

 my obser\ation, I 

 have had oppor- 

 tunitiesof e.xamin- 

 ing many other 

 examples, and I 

 now possess many 

 specimens in 

 various stages of 

 plumage, both 

 from .Australia 

 and China, as 

 well as the inter- 

 mediate countries, 

 which, independ- 

 ently of proving the great extent of range enjoyed by this s|iecies, have convinced to an almost 

 certainty that the various specific names of Candida, cryt/ir,>rliviiiiiii and vuhyipcs are merely 

 synonyms of the bird described by Linna-us under the name of I'thcauui piscatoi'. The specimen 

 from whicii Lesson took the description of his cryilnorhyihlia was doubtless a mounted one or a 

 dried skin, for immediately after death the beautiful and delicate t;reen colouring of the bill and 

 face changes to red ; in like manner the feet change from the brightest crimson to dull orange- 

 red, whence the term of ruliri[^cs was suggested to me as an appropriate appellation ; this term 

 1 would gladly retain did not the law of priority demand that it should be otherwise." 



" The Ked-legged Gannet is very abundant all along the northern shores of the .Australian 

 continent; it breeds in great numbers on Ivaine Islet, from which locality my collection is 

 enriched with several line specimens; for these my thanksaredue to Lieut. J. M. R. Ince, R.N., 

 who, independently of his duties as superintendent of the erection of the beacon on the island, 

 found amusement and occupation for his leisure moments in studying its interesting ornithology. 

 While acknowledging my obligations to Lieut. Ince, I am bound to add that I am no less 

 indebted to Mr. John McGillivray for the following notes, as well as a carefully executed 

 diagram of the liill and face, by means of which I have been enabled to colour the soft parts 



kei)-li-.g(.:ed g.^x.nkt on nkst. 



