70 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



[SULA DACTYLATRA DACTYLATRA Lesson 

 BLUE-FACED BOOBY 



Sula dactylatra Lesson, Trait e" d'Orn., 1831, p. 601 (Ascension Island). 



Sula dactylatra?, Bryant, Proc. Boston Soc Nat. Hist., vol. 11, May, 1867, 

 p. 97 (Haiti, listed). 



Sula cyanops, Cory, Birds Haiti and San Domingo, March, 1885, pp. 170- 

 171 (listed) ; Cat. West Indian Birds, 1892, p. 84 (Haiti, Dominican Repub- 

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



The blue-faced booby was reported with a query from Haiti by 

 Bryant, merely as a name without comment of any kind. The record 

 is considered very doubtful and seems to be the basis for other reports 

 of this species from this area. The note may refer perhaps to the 

 red-footed species. 



The blue-faced booby nested formerly in the Bahamas, but is not 

 known elsewhere nearby, the nearest modern breeding colonies known 

 to us being Alacran reefs on the coast of Yucatan, and Los Hermanos 

 Islands, Venezuela. The adult is white like the red-footed booby 

 but has the tail feathers, except the middle pair, sooty brown. The 

 young is dark grayish brown above with whitish streaks on back and 

 rump, and white below with grayish streaks on the flanks.] 



[Family PHALACROCORACIDAE] 



[PHALACROCORAX AURITUS FLORIDANUS (Audubon) ? 

 FLORIDA CORMORANT, GRAND GOSIER 



Carbo floridanus Audubon, Birds Ainer. (folio), vol. 3, 1835, pi. 252 (Florida 

 Keys). 



Cormoran, Descourtilz, Voy. Nat., vol. 2, 1809, pp. 239-241 (common near 

 the sea). 



Descourtilz includes in his list of birds "le Cormoran, appele a 

 Saint-Domingue Grand-Gosier, Brisson, torn. VI pag. 511, pi. XLV." 

 He describes it as common near the sea and says that the pouch is 

 used to carry tobacco, as the negroes believe that it keeps the leaves 

 fresh. Since Descourtilz traveled also in Cuba where the Florida 

 cormorant is common it is possible that his observations pertain to 

 that island and that he is in error in ascribing the species to His- 

 paniola. We have chosen to consider the record uncertain in view of 

 the fact that some of the ornithological 1 observations of Descourtilz 

 who was primarily a botanist seem open to question. It must be 

 borne in mind however that this author came to the island in 1799 

 when conditions may have differed from those at present, and that 

 further the region between Gonaives and the mouth of the Artibonite 

 where Descourtilz worked extensively has not been studied carefully 

 by an ornithologist. 



