68 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Superfamily SULIDES 

 Family SULIDAE 



SULA LEUCOGASTRA LEUCOGASTRA (Boddaert) 

 BROWN BOOBY, BOBY, PAJARO BOBO, FOU 



Pelecanus leucogaster Boddaert, Table Planch. Enl., 1783, p. 57 (Cayenne). 



? Fou, Oesmblin, Hist. Avent. Flibustiers, vol. 1, 1775, pp. 356-357 (recorded; 

 species not indicated). — Descourtilz, Voy. Nat., vol. 2, 1809, pp. 243-244 (two 

 shot; species not indicated). 



Sula fusca, Salle, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1S57, p. 237 (recorded, eastern 

 coast Dominican Republic). — Bryant, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 11, 

 May, 1867, p. 97 (listed, Dominican Republic). 



Sula sula, Cory, Cat. West Indian Birds, 1892, p. 84 (Haiti, Dominican 

 Republic). 



Sula leucogastra, Cory, Birds Haiti and San Domingo, March. 1885, p. 171 

 (listed after Bryant).— Tippenhauer, Die Insel Haiti, 1892, p. 323 (listed).— 

 Cieerri, Segund. Inf. An. Est. Agr. Moca, 1927, p. 6 (listed). — Lonnberg, 

 Fauna och Flora, 1929, p. 99 (Navassa, specimen). — Ekman, Ark. for Bot, vol. 

 22A, No. 16, p. 6 (Navassa, breeding). 



Sula leucogastra leucogastra, Danforth, Auk. 1929, p. 360 (Saona Island; 

 Gonave).— Moltoni, Att. Soc. Ital. Scienz. Nat., vol. 68, 1929, p. 308 (Beata). 



Recorded on the eastern and southern coasts of the Dominican Re- 

 public; found on Navassa Island; of irregular occurrence in Haiti. 



Salle remarks that this booby is found along the sea in desert 

 regions which would indicate that he saw it somewhere along the 

 arid eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. Abbott (September 

 12 to 18, 1919) saw several near Saona Island but did not take speci- 

 mens. He reports a booby of some kind on a mid-channel buoy 

 near Sanchez (March, 1919) but did not identify it. Danforth saw 

 a few off Saona Island June 14, 1927. Ciferri obtained one alive on 

 Beata Island in May, 1926. The brown booby breeds in numbers on 

 Mona and Desecheo Islands in Mona Passage between Hispaniola 

 and Porto Rico, so that it should occur regularly near the adjacent 

 Dominican coast in its excursions for food. Nesting colonies are 

 found also among the Bahamas so that it should come at times to 

 the northern shores of both republics. This booby fishes at sea so 

 that it is not seen frequently except from vessels, or near its 

 colonies. It obtains its food by diving from the air. 



Oexmelin records a booby from Tortue Island, and Descourtilz 

 reports that he shot two, but in neither case is there definite indica- 

 tion of the species. Cory reports the brown booby from Haiti but 

 without known basis so that his record is doubtful. Danforth writes 

 that F. P. Mathews saw three at Boucan Legume, Gonave Island, 

 July 18, 1927. Ekman secured a specimen on Navassa Island, 

 according to Doctor Lonnberg, and found them breeding there. 



