TOTIPALMATE BIRDS, HERONS, STORKS 43 



tropical and sub-tropical America, ranging northwards to West 

 Mexico and South Carolina ; but Darters, of different species, are met 

 with in other parts of the world. Like the Cormorants, Darters, in 

 the summer, have the neck adorned with long, white, hair-like 

 feathers, known as filo-plumes. The Darters are further remarkable 

 for the fact that the tail-feathers are curiously corrugated in a way 

 recalling the sheets of corrugated iron used for roofing and other 

 purposes. 



Though Darters occur on the sea-coasts, it is more strictly a river 

 bird. 



As in the Cormorants, the eggs of the Darter are peculiar in that 

 they are covered with a thin layer of chalk, which, when scraped 

 away, reveals a shell of a very delicate greenish-blue colour. 



The Gannets, though closely related to the Cormorants and Darters, 

 differ much therefrom, not only in shape and coloration, but also in 

 their method of fishing, since they capture their prey, not by pursuit 

 under water, but by a sudden plunge from a great height in 

 the air. 



The Common Gannet (Plate III. fig. 3), also known as the Solan 

 Goose, is a resident within British waters, and breeds in considerable 

 numbers on the Bass Rock and Ailsa Craig, islands on the east and 

 west coasts of Scotland. Smaller colonies are to be found off the 

 English and Irish coasts. From the British Islands it extends to 

 Iceland, and down the American Coast to Nova Scotia. 



While the adult bird in both sexes is pure white — save the quills, 

 which are black, and a rich buff tinge over the head and neck — the 

 young birds are of a blackish ash colour, flecked with white. Year by 

 year, at each successive moult, they grow paler, until, at the sixth 

 year, they assume the fully adult dress. 



Altogether, about nine distinct species of Gannets are known. 

 All are remarkable for the fact that between the skin and the body 

 there is found a wonderful system of air-cells, serving to break the 

 force of the impact with the water which occurs when the birds dive 

 after their food. This, as we have already remarked, they do from a 

 great height. 



Like the Cormorants and Darters and also the Penguins, the Gannets 

 have no external nostrils, but breathe only through the mouth. 



