102 



Sub-family — Plotin^. 



Bill elongate and pointed ; cutting edges of mandibles serrated. Body 

 nearly uniformly clothed with soft and small contour feathers. 



Genus — PLOTUS. — Bill compressed, straight and pointed ; no lateral 

 groove ; cutting edge of mandible along the terminal half serrated. 

 Neck very long and slender. 



729. P. nOTSe-hoIIaildice, Gld., Darter. 



General plumage glossy black ; a white stripe down a part of neck 

 below the eye ; a white line of feathers borders the bare throat. 



Male. — Neck and under parts black ; a long patch of chestnut on 

 the base of fore-neck. 



Female. — Fore-neck and under parts white. 

 Hab. : 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. 



FAMILY— SULID^. 



Tail wedge-shaped. Web between toes not emarginate, or imperfectly so. 

 Bill subcylindrical and pointed ; no external nostrils. 



Genits— SULA. — Bill stout, and tapering towards the extremity, never 

 hooked ; nostrils quite closed in adult. Chin and upper part of 

 throat naked. 



730. S. serrator, G. R. Gray (Sula australis, Gld.), Gannet. 



Plumage mostly white ; head and neck washed with yellowish- 

 buff ; naked band on throat about 2 in. long ; two middle pairs of 

 tail feathers brown, four outer pairs white. 



Young. — Sooty-brown and spotted white. 



Total length, about 36 in. ; wing, 1"8 in. ; tarsus, 2"2 in. 

 Hab. : 3, 4, 5, 6, 9. 



731. S. cyaiiops, Sundevall (S. personata, Gld.), Masked Gannet. 



Adult. — Pure white, except primaries, secondaries, coverts, and 

 tail, which are brown ; the basal parts of tail and quills are white ; 

 bill pale green to horn-blue ; gular and orbital skins are bluish- 

 black. Tarsus, 23 in. 



Young. — Head, neck, and back brown mixed with white. 



Nearly adult specimens have lesser coverts, lower l)ack, and 

 rump mixed with brown, otherwise they are like adult. — E. A. 

 Butler. 



Hab. : 1, 2, 3, (4). 



732. S. piSCator, Linn., Red-legged Gannet. 



Mostly pure white, including the tail ; outer webs of flight feathers 

 greyish or blackish in new moult birds ; naked skin round eye blue ; 

 1 egs vermilion ; tarsus, 1 '4 in. 



Young birds are mostly all brown to their first moult ; in second 

 year head, neck, and scapulars are white, and middle tail feathers 

 and back are brown. 

 Hab. : 1, 2. 



733. S. Sllla, Linn. (S. leucogastra, Bodd. ; S. fiber, Gld. — immature), 



Brown Gannet (Booby). 



All upper parts, fore-neck, and chest sooty-brown ; breast, axil- 

 la ries, and remaining under parts white. 



Total length, about 28 in. 



Young birds are brownish beneath, or the same mixed with white. 

 Hab. : 1, 2. 



