~I 
Or 
ORDER STEGANOPODES. 
Fam. PHAETONTIDZ. 
756. Puarron rupricaupa (Bodd.). Red-tailed Tropic Bird. 
It is with some hesitation that we include this species among the 
Birds of South Africa. A single red tail-feather was picked up on 
the beach at Port Elizabeth by our correspondent Mr. Rickard, who 
believes that it was freshly cast there. 
Fam. PELECANIDZA. 
757. Sura capensis, Licht. Cape Gannet. 
The Malagash, as it is called by the colonists, or Common Gannet 
of South Africa, frequents, in countless thousands, the whole of our 
coast-line, breeding on the various islands scattered over the whole 
extent from St. Ann’s River to the eastward of Natal to the guano 
islands off Angra Pequina. It visits Table Bay in vast numbers in 
the months of April and May, in pursuit of the shoals of fish that 
. then appear on the surface, upon which the birds pounce with almost 
unerring aim, from a great altitude, becoming entirely submerged 
by the violence of their descent. We have never seen this species 
far from land: they have invariably disappeared on the morning 
after the ship’s departure, if standing off the land. Eggs of a 
blue ground, covered with white chalk: axis, 8’’ 5”; diam. 2”. 
Mr. Rickard records it from Port Elizabeth and Hast London. 
He states that he has found a great many parasites in the air 
membranes found in these birds. According to Mr. Andersson, 
‘‘this is a very common bird on the south-west coast, and is found 
far to the north of Walwich Bay, and from thence southwards to 
the Cape of Good Hope. Its flight is very powerful and continuous, 
and it also presents a very pretty picture as it rides carefully on 
the foaming and crested waves. It is a most expert diver, and will 
precipitate itself from a considerable height with fearful velocity in 
pursuit of its prey, which it seizes under the surface, often at some 
